1964-05-25 - A Lovely Spring Evening
Summary: Jay and Kai spend a nice spring evening getting to know each other.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
jay kai 


What a lovely spring evening! And out in the midst of it, at the foot of a tree in a park, sits Kai Alffson with a beat-up old guitar, strumming out a tune while his little dog noses around within the circle of his leash, sniffing this, eating that. He's starting to get a bit of a belly now that he's not a starving stray anymore. As for Kai, he actually knows how to play, and the tune has something of a Spanish quality to it, his fingerwork deft and spot on. He must not be very high just now.

*

Spring evenings. Much better than spring days. Who can deal with all that sunshine and weather? It's insufferable.

Crazy people, that's who deal with it. And nobody ever accused Jay of being the sanest guy to roll off the truck. Parks are plentiful in the city, even in the jankiest parts of town there is a park hanging around, but in the fancier parts of town, they're /nice/. Jay is strolling through the newborn grass, his flip flops hanging by his fingers, indulging in the feeling of the warming ground under the soles of his bare feet when he hears the plucking of a guitar. Drawn to it, like a moth to a flame, the young man finds himself veering around in that direction until he comes up behind Kai's tree and catches sight of a familiar little yippy dog. "Kevin?"

*

Kevin perks up. He knows his name! Maybe. Maybe he's just responding to a voice. Any voice. The little dog trots toward him to the end of his leash, tail wagging. Kai looks up, and he keeps playing. "Oh, it's you," he says. "I remember you." His tone is amiable, sure, but he remembers how Jay reacted to finding out about him being an alien. So he's a little guarded. "Jay, was it?"

*

The little dog reacts to his name, which makes Jay smile a little bit and step forward, reaching a hand down to let the little dog sniff and lick his fingers as he likes. It's not until the final split second when Jay remembers that, oh yeah, the dog's owner is probably nearby, and that curly head pops out, making Jay freeze in place, bent at the waist and beckoning Kevin with an outreached hand. Well, he's been caught in worse positions.

Big green eyes blink rapidly a couple times, clearly recognizing the other man, the back of Jay's shirt swells up awkwardly as he slowly straightens to his full height again. "Uh, yeah." Embarrassed, he shifts his weight on his feet and tries a smile. "Kai, raght? Ah recognized Kevin." He points to the little dog and rubs a hand through his long hair awkwardly.

*

Kevin loves Jay! Oh, man. Jay's the best! He licks Jay's fingers and wags so hard he kind of turns himself sideways from the force of it. When Jay stands upright and addresses Kai, Kevin sniffs around his feet. Sometimes people drop tasty things when they get distracted. It's not something a little dog wants to leave to chance.

Kai regards Jay for a moment, and his brows lift. He would be lying if he said he didn't have the urge to let Jay twist in the wind just a little. Feelings were hurt! Finally, he says, "Kai, that's right. How have you been? I haven't seen you since that day with Bertie."

*

I guess one could say that Kevin's a real…/bird dog/, har har. Unfortunately there's no food to quickly scarf up as Jay straightens himself and begins ignoring the happy little dog.

He clearly remembers that day, judging by the flush of color over the young man's face, turning his cheeks and ears a little closer in shade to his hair. There's a soft sound of friction, like whispers behind him, as the feathers which line the backs of his legs shiver. "Ah've been-well." A short, open-mouthed exhale straight from the young man's chest was likely born to be a laugh in spite of himself, cutting off whatever polite answer he had and replacing it with a far more candid one, Jay looking for Kai's gaze. "Honestly, Ah've been overwhelmed since th' second Ah got int' town." A hapless smile curves the honest young man's mouth. No posturing from him. Thong sandals tap against the outside of his thigh as Jay wiggles his fingers back and forth. "An' lookin' fer you a little bit, actu'lly."

*

Kai winds his tune down to a close, though it's rather elaborate. The sort where one thinks it's over, but no, there's a few more notes, and maybe a few more. It ends on a minor note, pregnant with suspense. Then he leans the guitar against the tree and turns so he can face Jay. He sits on the ground still, cross-legged, with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his palms. He gazes up at Jay with those big blue eyes, bright and not without humor. "Well, you found me a lot," he says. "What's the tale, nightingale?"

*

Waiting in silence as that tune comes to a close, Jay is fully attentive to it and respectful of the Music, waiting for it to come to completion before he bothers to speak again. Rather than stare at Kai the whole time, his attention drops down to the blond's fingers while they tease over the strings. Not with the same oblivious admiration of the average, intrigued person as well, there's a stillness and focus that betrays genuinely paying attention.

When it wraps up and the instrument is put aside, leaving Jay back with Kai, peering up at him like a small golden-headed child with giant blue eyes. Jay actually winces and shifts his weight from foot to foot. "Well, tale goes a bit lahke this…" He begins, and once again halts himself early and huffs out a short breath, striding forward and collapsing down into a cross-legged position in front of Kai. Other than the slightly awkward cocking of bowing feathers underneath him and that hunch on his back lifting upward, he does so with a loose grace. "Sorry. Felt weird standin' over ya like that," Jay explains, his gaze flickering back and forth slightly, then settles again on Kai as he sweeps his hair out of his face. "Ah just got to th' city when Ah met you. Th' only other, uh, unusual folks Ah'd met were my brother an' sister. Ah was supposed t'stay with m'brother, but he decided to buzz off an' sort of just left me alone, so…yeah Ah was just wanderin' around. Anyway, Ah acted like a spaz when all y'all were trying t'do was be friendly. Ah'm sorry fer bein' such a dipstick. Ah was a complete square." The southern young man rolls his eyes in spite of himself.

*

Kevin wiggles over to Jay and tries to climb onto his lap, licking at his hands and then his face. Happy dog is happy, and Jay is his new best friend. "Kev," Kai says, "don't be a pest." He holds out a hand to summon the dog to him, though he'll need to cajole a bit more than that to dislodge the pooch. "It's all right," Kai says. For as much as he enjoyed a little wind-twisting, grudges just aren't in his nature. "I imagine it was a shock I just didn't want you to feel like you were the only weirdo in town. You and Bertie wear your deal on the outside. I was just trying to level the field."

*

The weird little dog who makes such fast friends wriggles into Jay's lap without the young man even noticing aside from automatically pulling his arms out from his lap and letting them fall around the furry body-clearly a 'I've lived with dogs before' kind of move. Jay straightens again when Kai calls his pup forward, a pale hand lifting to scritch behind one ear. "He's all right. Heh…must be nice havin' someone so happy to see ya all the time." Helpfully, Jay plucks the ridiculous beast up and sets Kevin down on the grass between he and Kai.

"Ah get it, man," Jay shrugs and shakes his head. "Ah lost my cool. The whole place an' all the folks Ah keep runnin' into are a trip. The only other folks I ever seen Ah was related to, an' I'm used to them, no matter how weird. You an' Bert just had the unfortunate luck of breakin' the ice." Another squint of his eyes, wincing and embarrassed at his actions. "My third power is bein' able to fit both my feet in my mouth at th' same time."

*

Kevin takes full advantage of Jay's conditioning. He snuggles up under Jay's arms and, when he gets scritched, he looks at Kai like hmm, maybe just this once he won't come? Kai lets his hand drop and says, "All right, but if he becomes a pest, push him off." He can't help but smile at the little dog. Such a shameless opportunist. He can relate. When set down, Kevin goes back to Jay. "He likes everyone," Kai says. "He knows he can see me any old day."

He studies Jay while he talks to him, making no secret of how he makes a note of the feathers. Surely the man's used to staring by now. This is more of a thoughtful consideration. "Everyone needs someone who's happy to see them," Kai says. He laughs then, bubbly and bright. "Bertie was as bad if not worse," he says, "and he should have known better. I'm just me, you know? And he already knew me." He grins, and there are dimples. Nope, he's not one for grudges. "So tell me where you're staying. You said you didn't know anyone?"

*

The ridiculous animal happily meanders back into Jay's cross-legged lap and this time his behavior isn't corrected. Just head scritches that travel down the pup's spine and around to his chest, manhandling petting Kevin. "Nah, he's good. Ah miss m'dog."

Sure, he's used to the staring once people finally notice what's going on, but it's not any less awkward for him at this point when he notices Kai's scrutiny of the lengthy primary feathers splaying out over the grass around him. Jay dips his chin, focusing on the tiny animal in his lap, scritching Kevin as a pleasant distraction. A faint curvature of his mouth appearing, looking up through bits of long hair, toward Kai. "He didn't know either? Ah mean…any of it or jus' the bit you showed us?" He shrugs gently. "Ah find places an' Ah met people. At first I mostly stuck t' the little community center round Mutant Town, but Ah ended up couch hoppin' a little bit til Ah found a spot. Ah'm used t'makin' it work, you know? Been three weeks now an' someone's been lettin' me stay with 'em."

*

"He's pretty hopeless," Kai says with an affectionate look at the pooch. Who is in doggy bliss as he's given more attention. He keels onto his back, whumpf. The animal has no dignity. Kai stretches, then lays on the ground, on his belly, with his chin in his hands. He idly kicks the air as he says, "I hadn't told him anything, no. It hadn't come up." He shrugs a shoulder, and those dimples make another appearance. "Hey, if you ever need a place to stay, I've got a place. People crash there once in awhile, and I can always chill out with my friend who lives near Central Park. He won't mind."

*

Shifting his folded legs slightly, Jay gets his arms up under the shameless animal and all but cradles him in the crook of one arm, rubbing vigorously at his chest and the stretch of belly for a rapid pat-pat-pat-pat and ruffle back up his chest. More than happy to feed into Kevins urgent need for /all of the attention/.

Tracking Kai with his eyes, the red-headed young man tilts it ever so slightly when Kai stretches out on his belly on the grass. "Must be nice, to be able t'do that." No bitterness, just a little bit of wistfulness in his tone, Jay doesn't seem to have it in him to take to envy that easily. "Ah met a chicky a little like you a few days ago, too. Folks all over." He breathes in deeply, his restrained extra limbs flex and swell under the denim shirt. "That's mighty kind, but Ah wouldn't put you an' Kevin out like that. Especially not with what a class act Ah've been lately." Pink tinted mouth curving with a gentle smile, still hanging on to an apologetic angle in spite of himself. Kai may not hold a grudge, but Jay is very good at holding on to guilt. "It's well enough into spring, I'm never too put out to sleep under the stars-erm…/star/ Ah guess." Humor making his eyes shine warmly for a moment. "Ah got a pretty solid back up, Ah jus' don't much like it sometimes." Jay licks his lower lip in preparation and blows a little puff of air down in Kevin's face playfully.

*

Kevin's leg kicks wildly. Aw yes. Yes, that's the stuff! Kick kick kick. Meanwhile, his tongue lolls. Happiest dog. Kai looks pretty happy himself, eyes crescented as he just smiles, like life couldn't possibly be more carefree. "I'm blessed," he says. "It's this city, though. It's magical, man. You'll meet all sorts here, and if you know what to look for, some of them will be your best friends. All right, some of them might be your enemy, too, but I try to focus on the upbeat, dig me?" He waves a hand idly, adding, "You wouldn't be putting me off if I'm offering, Jay." He watches Jay intently again, this time his face. "I like your hair," he says out of the blue. "And your eyes. Anyway, if you don't ever need help, then it won't matter, but if you ever do, why pass it up?"

Kevin blinks a few times and stares up at Jay, like what the hell just happened, man? He licks the air, then snaps at it a few times experimentally. He's not the brightest canine. When biting the air fails, he licks his nose.

*

"You are, that," Jay is happy to agree readily at Kai's blessed state as he ruffles and manhandles the happy little animal, bubbling up with whispers of mirth, himself. Likely intended to be chuckles, but they come out too breathy and gentle to be given any real voice. Still, for all the attention that he gives to Kevin, Jay carries the conversation with Kai easily, glancing back up at him through the long wisps of hair which frame his face in a fairly chaotic tousle most of the time. "Ah dig yer garden, sure. It's been a wild ride so far, an' Ah'm gettin' more comfortable around town. Still get lost all th' time, though." A bemused twitch of one corner of his mouth, crookedly. Jay whispers another laugh at Kevin and does it again, blowing a little puff of air in his face. The compliment straight out of the blue has Jay looking up again, peering curiously at Kai for a long beat of time. Speculative. "Thanks. Ah grew it m'self. Yers is all curly an' fun, though. Ah missed out on the curls. Probably a blessin'." Humor, again, a touch of light finding his eyes once more. "Ah get what yer sayin'. An' Ah appreciate it. Likewise, though, heh, Ah don't actually /have/ much to give aside fer time." Again, and again, his attention twitches over toward the forgotten guitar while he ruffles Kevin, the hapless and riled up little creature. "So. You play real nice. That somethin' you do a lot? Since, Ah mean, aside from the bit where you shine like a lightnin' bug, an you've got that groovy accent, Ah guess Ah don't know a bunch about ya. If yer tellin' me Ah can bum on yer couch, might be nice t'know ya a little more."

*

Kai tugs at one of his curls, and it springs back into place. "They get frizzy when the weather's wet," he says. "And I got my fingers stuck in them while washing them once." More than once, don't judge. His smile returns though, rarely far from her lips. "Hey, time is a gift. You can give time to, like, helping out the poor and infirm. Or talking to someone lonely, or helping a little old lady cross the street."

Kevin looks around for the puff of air but, failing to find it, goes back to licking Jay's fingers and being a wriggly, happy thing. For a creature with a brain his size, there must be an awful lot of things that just remain mysteries.

Kai glances toward the guitar, and he says, "Oh, yeah. I play music. I'm an artist, mostly. I paint and draw and sculpt. I just try to, like, make the world better, you know what I'm talking about? Make it more beautiful, make it easier for people having a hard time. I love this place, so I just try to help it along."

*

There is a /look/ that Jay gives Kai, cut between humor and generalized doubt that that story is true when he says that he gets his fingers stuck. It lasts for a solid beat, then melts like a snowflake on the tongue into a soft smile, whispering chuckles down at Kevin. Jay goes back to petting the wriggling ball of fur nicely. "Momma says it's the only thing that you can't get more of, so y'gotta be careful who you spend it on." Of course there's a 'momma says' anecdote in there somewhere from the southern young man. Of course!

The dawning understanding that Kai is an artist makes Jay take pause, fingers scritching Kevin's side idly as those big, deep green eyes widen marginally and Jay turns his face back up to meet the other man. A soulful look of slow-growing excitement filling the pale man's person, the looming figures over his shoulders swell and cast wider shadows over him as Jay's wings try to puff up. He /whispers/, as if saying it too loud might make Kai vanish suddenly, "Yer an artist?"

*

One would be right to assume Jay is an imposter if there wasn't a 'momma says' story in him. As Kai watches with growing fascination, Kevin whines because the attention is suddenly not all poured into scritches. Sure, sure, the elf makes art, but will no one give a forlorn dog some love? He licks Jay's fingers, then insinuates his head under them.

Kai meanwhile tilts his head, and his smile is somewhat self-conscious, but amusedly so. "Yes," he says, slow and tentative. "I wish I'd brought my art bag today, I'd show you my stuff." After a moment's consideration, he asks, "Why? Do you want someone to draw your picture?"

*

Pale and perfect fingers twitch at that warm little tongue laps at them, reinvigorating the scritch machine on the back of Kevin's neck, though Jay's eyes don't for an instant peel away from Kai's dimpled face-just a quick flicker flutter of red eyelashes not quite blinking as his attention is begged elsewhere.

The secondary confirmation draws a smile from Jay that he hasn't pulled out in a while. His mien is always pleasant, warm, welcoming, guileless and without pretention, the polite young man's heart on his sleeve and all over his face, but his resting face does seem to carry with it a natural impression of a smile. Then of course there are the gentle curves to his mouth, like whispers of smiles which warm his eyes. Polite and genuine. This is /not/ one of those.

Jay's face lights up with a slow growing smile, drawn up with a deep breath which seems to fill his whole body and allows him to sit an inch or so taller, crescendoing into a wide grin so full of /relief/ and happiness, even in the face of that self-conscious smile from Kai. There's the impression that if he didn't currently have a lap full of dog, he may have even reached out to try to grasp at Kai, but Kevin is definitely taking up that attention. "What? Oh. Hah, no. I ain't nothin' worth usin' yer good pencils on. Ah'm just so /glad/ t'meet another person who appreciates that stuff." Indeed, he does seem relieved. Bundled up with bits of excitement, not unlike the dog rolling around in his lap. But there's an emotional tie somewhere in there that touches Jay's eyes, almost like a relief from a nagging pain-like when someone finds a persistent knot that's been radiating low-level aches. Sure it hurts, but the relief is like a tiny trickle out of a burgeoning dam. Relieving pressure. "Ah mean…Ah'm not an art-artist. Ah'm a musician." He upnods his chin toward Kai's guitar. "S'why I came closer when I heard ya. Was like a Siren's song-which," Jay rolls his eyes and smiles, abashedly. "Ah just learned is actually a real thing, cept yer better lookin' than a Siren, of course, heh."

*

Jay's smile prompts Kai's smile to deepen. In fact, he can't just lay there in the grass. He sits pulls himself back to sitting, the better to clasp his hands together. "Are you kidding?" he says, "I would love to draw you. You're gorgeous!" Then those big blue eyes go wide in their shameless attempt at appeal. "You have to let me draw you. Please. You could come see the artwork I've done and, if you like it, sit for me and I'll sketch you?"

Then Kai looks to the guitar, looks back to Jay, and he says, "Why aren't you playing, then? I want to hear you." He makes wiggly fingers at Kevin and says brightly, "Kev! Come here, mate! Be a good dog!" Kevin wriggles a bit more, then bails off Jay's lap to waddle-wiggle up to Kai. Oh man, oh man, oh man, Kai's saying his name all happy-like. Best day ever! "Now go get it and show me what you've got," Kai says to Jay.

*

Kai drops the 'g' word in reference to him and Jay physically recoils slightly, confused and giving him a peculiar look of disbelief. "You sure? Ah'm just some…weird gawky ginger," Jay comments without offense and a wrinkle of his nose. No, Jay. No, you're really not. Maybe as a teenager, sure. That could very well be, and children are assholes, but Jay is /not/ gawky. He's grown out of it rather well. "Ah mean, if yer into it, sure. Ah haven't, uh, sat for someone before, so you might have to hold m'hand a little bit. And, uh, well…" He looks slightly over one shoulder at the moving bulge under his shirt. "There's that you'd have t'deal with, too."

The insistance that Jay play something gets a suddenly slightly bashful smile, but the way he leans toward the instrument, Jay's actually chomping at the bit. "You sure? A man never touches another man's instrument 'less yer sure. That's like touchin' yer lady or something, man."

*

Kai's lips twitch. A man sometimes touches another man's instrument is what he doesn't say. He may be over two hundred fifty years old, but in some ways he will forever be, oh, twelve. "I just picked it up at a thrift store a couple days ago," Kai says. Besides, I just practically ordered you to do it." He scoops up his little dog and roughhouses with him playfully, eliciting ferocious growls and little yips while the dog wags himself silly. Kai laughs gaily, like he's never known a day's care. If one only knew, one might call it resilience or madness. "You shouldn't doubt me," he says. "I'm only telling the truth. You're beautiful, and don't worry about the you-know-whats. I like them."

*

All men are always twelve. It is their gift, and their curse. But Jay is still just too innocent to catch jokes like that all the time. Or even half the time.

"Doubt isn't so bad. Besides, Ah've known artists outa their minds tellin' me how out of sight a half empty can of baked beans is." Jay smiles gently, teasing Kai while he watches the little animal yip and growl at his master. "Everyone should have a dog…" Jay murmurs wistfully, then looks up again. "You like 'em, you ain't never seen 'em." Jay whispers another soft sound of humor, then leans forward, getting up on his hands and knees to stretch out and snag the thrift store treasure, gathering it back up in his lap as Jay rocks back down to crosslegged a little haphazardly, shaking his hair out of his face. A couple feathers pucker strangely, making Jay grunt and his wing cock out to one side a little odd. A quick sit up and correction, Jay gets back to getting to know the guitar, smoothing his fair hands over the strings and down the neck experimentally.

Jay then thinks twice, a little flicker of that smile reappearing as he peers thoughtfully at Kai. A single little dimple pokes its way into one of Jay's cheeks as he smiles. "/That/ would be amazin'," speculative murmurations, Jay licks his lower lip and leans in toward Kai slightly, over the body of the instrument cradled in his lap. "Ah mean…it'd make a statement but, can you imagine a showin' of pieces with obvious mutants, or other not-quite-human folk? Do they have somethin' like that in town?"

*

Kai's eyes widen, and he says, "That would be perfect!" Kevin growls with utter ferocity and barks around Kai as he runs back and forth. Beware the death hound! Who is just excited now because Kai is excited. He breaks into this throaty, warbly awoowoo like a miniature coyote who needs to lay off the menthols. Kai laughs and ruffles his ears, then says to Jay, "I want to find other artists to get in on it, too! We could do an exhibit showing the beauty of mutants. To capture the humanity." The fact that there's a very real possibility that he could get beaten or killed for this just seems to fly right over that pretty blond head. "You've got the best ideas," he says."

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