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After a long day of moving, assembling things, and dinner, Vic wanders into the living room from the shower, wearing only pajama bottoms. It's late, and he needs a snack. So he pads into the kitchen and rummages in the fridge like a trash panda. Leftovers, hmm. Is that cold pizza? Yes, please. And the makings for a sandwich.
Jay's handy when it comes to assembling things, and he's an able helper in the kitchen if someone can point him in the right direction. Household stuff he can do, coming from a large family, he has that on lock. Relaxing in his new designated area, Jay waited for everyone to head to their respective bedrooms before he stripped off his overshirt and let his wings stretch. Now, he's laying flat on his stomach on his new sleeping area, stripped to the waist and wearing a pair of faded green short-shorts as is the style for athletics these days. Though he seems like he's be a shoe-in for a farmer's tan, he's more like a damn geisha with how uniformly pale his skin is, wings spread out and relaxed over his back and crossing his legs like a feather blanket, he's writing in a book when Vic walks in and through to the kitchen. Jay looks up and smiles softly. "Hey, Vic. Midnight snack?"
Vic says wryly, "Yeah, couldn't sleep. You want something while I'm up?" He emerges from the kitchen into the dining room. He's got a slice of cold pizza on a plate next to a ham sandwich and a tall glass of milk. He's built like he lives at the gym, not a scrap of excess fat on him, despite that he eats like a horse. "I could make you a sandwich. There's ham and turkey from the deli." He flashes Jay a broad, boyish smile.
"No thanks," Jay responds smoothly and smiles as he points to a small plate beside him, crumbs remaining. "Ah just finished some left over pizza, m'self." Pressing up to a sitting position carefully, Jay tilts his head to Vic, whispering a soft chuckle beneath his breath. "What the heck was yer body doin' b'fore? Trainin' up fer Mister Universe? Sheesh." While Vic's physique is easy to guess at any day of the week, Jay, by nature of his mutation and comfort, dressed in loose layers, leaving his physique at a couple question marks for the most part. He's not as broad as the other man, but they share a natural muscular nature, Jay is just more streamlined than broad. Defined and trim, probably for flight. "Ah ain't gawkin' at you, but hell, man. Or did all that happen after y'came around?"
Vic glances down at him self, then says, "Heh, oh. That's just my shape. The host body was in pretty bad shape, but it's operating in peak condition now." He sits down and starts on the sandwich. Into his face it goes. He's not a messy eater, and he does observe reasonable table manners, but he does eat like a teenager who's hungry, damn it. "I need a lot of energy," he says, half-apologetic, between bites of ham and swiss.
Jay shakes his head a little bit, bemused and smiling at Vic as if he were a ridiculous puppy. "No, no, you do what you gotta, man." Shoving his pencil into the book and shutting it, there's a speculative look. "You can tell me to buzz off, but why do you need so much energy?"
Vic shrugs amiably and says, "It's okay. I don't mind." Thus opening the flood gate for Jay, neat as can be. He washes down the last of his sandwich with a swig of milk. Ah, that's more like it. "My body's constantly regenerating, fixing little imperfections, repairing things on a cellular level, I guess. It burns a lot of energy. Then of course if I use any of my powers, that blows through a lot more energy."
Blowing those gates wide open indeed, the winged young man leans forward slightly, his feet planted firmly on the floor. "Repairin' things. Sure. Ah get that." He wets his lower lip thoughtfully and nods. "It's pretty common when someone uses their powers, t'have to recharge. Mah brother could devour a cow whole I'd figure after a long flight." And it isn't like Jay doesn't eat excessively because his own regenerative properties. Just not like /that/. "But…yer body is /alive/ still, raght? Yer powers aren't keepin' a dead guy goin' or anything like that, are they? That's a lot of energy."
Vic says, "Oh, sure, I'm alive. I have a heartbeat. All the squishy parts do their job. The body going fast, but it wasn't gone yet when I moved in." His cheer dims somewhat as he adds, "Just the brain of the guy who was here before. There wasn't anything left of him but enough of a brainstem to keep the heart beating." He grimaces, but it doesn't diminish his appetite. He eats slower, though, maybe out of respect. "I think the body would've been dead within a couple days, but it's very much alive."
Clarity hits Jay's expression, understanding and then a most solemn moment hits as the young man tips his chin forward and crosses himself quickly. "That makes more sense. That's a lotta repairin' to have to do. Ah don't know whether t'say Ah'm sorry or not at this point," admitting with a soft puff of breath that must be a substitute for a chuckle, slightly sheepish. "So then, what were you before this? Were you in someone else? Did that body die?"
Vic shrugs a shoulder and says, "No reason to be sorry or feel bad," Vic says. His bright smile surfaces briefly, then fades again. "I feel bad for the guy who used to live here. I'm sorry he died, because, living inside his head, I don't think he was all that bad of a person. But I'm also not sorry I'm alive. It's sad but serendipitous." He takes a bite of pizza, chewing thoughtfully. He washes it down with a drink, then says, "I wasn't anything. I came into being, then I went to explore the world and got sucked into this flesh and blood."
Okay, hold the phone. Jay squints and tilts his head to one side while Vic tries to explain himself. Itself? He's not sure! "You…what? Ah'm sorry but that doesn't make any sense t'me. What do you mean you 'came into being'? From where? Or what? Ah mean, things don't just pop up out of nowhere. An' how are you Billy's brother? Was that body his brother?"
Vic shakes his head and says, "No, this body doesn't have any family, really. None who's claim him." He takes another drink of milk, calm and not to be hurried. "I came into being in this…way?" he ventures. "I don't know. I was, then I wasn't, but maybe the stuff that made me existed? Like having milk and flour and yeast, but there's no bread til you mix them together. I'm guessing. I'm still very new, and before that, I wasn't around to know what was going on. But his parents made me. It's kind of a secret so don't tell it around."
"But…that's not the same thing as makin' a cake," Jay laughs softly, deeply confused and a little on the troubled side as well as he tries to wrap his mind around the /thing/ standing in front of him. "Ah mean, there are ingredients but they're kinda, um, different." Jay's cheeks burn a bright red, but his grin couldn't be brighter. "They made you…and then you were…in this body?" The winged young man struggles with this concept.
"Isn't it?" Vic asks. "All of existence seems to hinge on the principle of components combining and falling apart and recombining into new forms." He tilts his head, peering at Jay. It takes him a moment to figure out why Jay's blushing, and then he laughs a little and shakes his head. "They made me, but I don't think they knew about me. I kicked around a bit, then got out and explored the world. I don't remember much of that, just a sense of movement. Then I woke up in the hospital attached to all these machines."
"Well /yeah/," Jay laughs softly again, in a whisper. "It is, but not like that." Then again, the young man thinks on it, seeming thoughtful for a moment as his eyes roll up over Vic's head. "Though, mah cousin's accidentally made a lot of people, Ah suppose."
"Magic bends the rules," Vic says with a somewhat shy smile. Like it's boasting to say he's a creature of magic, and no one likes a braggart. "Did your cousin make them the traditional way or was there magic involved? Because they got these things you can put on that'll keep you from making kids."
"/T'yeah/," Jay whispers with a wide smile, swaying backwards slightly from his sleeping perch, his expression blown open with guileless humor. "Ah'm startin' t'learn that it does a bit more than jus' bend 'em, Vic." The winged man coughs just afterwards and looks bashful again. "Oh, uh, yeah Ah'm pretty sure she's made 'em the traditional way. And, well, we're a pretty, um, religious family. An' Ah'm pretty sure she goes by the whole 'God would never give ya anythin' you can't handle' theory to life. Some of us are a little more traditional than the other ones." Jay smiles sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Wait. Was Victor yer body's name?"
"Ah, I see," Vic says, then grins. "There's something to be said for being fruitful, I guess. It's just not for me, I don't think." He nods then and says, "Victor Delano. I've kind of assumed his identity. At the hospital, they thought it was a miracle recovery, and what was I supposed to tell them? "Oh sorry, not at all, I'm a Mote of Cognizance named Serendipity?" He shakes his head. "I haven his memories, too. But it's like reading about his life, not like living it."
Jay shrugs gently. "Well, yer with Kellan, so there ain't no worries about bein' fruitful or not." The young man whispers a soft chuckle and falls silent to listen again, pressing up to his feet and strolling toward the kitchen where Vic eats. Brows loft upwards gently, chin dipping as he fixes attention on Vic, his voice lowering with a sense of awe and appreciation behind it, "Yer name's Serendipity?" Because that's the most important part of all of that.
Vic grins wryly. "It does simplify things." He finishes off his milk, then folds his arms on the table to lean upon. "Yeah, that's my name." His grin turns broad and warm, and he ducks his head a little. "It was serendipity that I came into being, and that I found a body to live in without hurting anyone. I feel so lucky." His eyes widen as he looks at Jay and says softly, "Life is so great, Jay. There's ice cream and baklava, and people, and sunshine. I love being a person."
One side of Jay's cheek hollows as he bites the inside of it, deep green eyes wide and clear as the red-head smiles softly at Vic, as if seeing him for the first time. His extra appendages lift and shiver excitedly. "That's a really boss name, man." Pale hands slide to a halt on the table, holding on to it loosely from the opposite side from Vic. The revelation that life is great makes Jay's gaze flick down a little bit, guilty, but he nods a few times while his smile softens. "Yeah. It can be, fer sure. Ah'm glad yer a person, too. You seem pretty chill fer a week old. Usually folks don't get fun until they're at least five years." Jay notes with amusement, lifting his attention back to Vic. "So, wait…you've only known Kel fer a week?"
"I like it," Vic says, of his name. He thinks for a moment, counting on his fingers "It's a bit over a week," he says, "but yeah. We haven't known each other long" He grins dopily, ducking his head. "He's amazing, though. The first day I was alive, we met on the street, and I had nowhere to go, really, so he let me come here. Then we just kind of hit it off." He shrugs amiably. "More good luck."
Jay colors a little around the cheeks, looking down at his own hands on the table top, fingers drumming lightly on the surface. "No kidding. Yer livin' a blessed life, Vic. That's good. It's like beginner's luck, but you got a jump start cause yer already grown." The flier smiles gently and sucks down a breath to steel himself, wings fwipping gently. "So everythin' you know how to do, you kinda learned off of watchin' Vic's memories? Ah mean, not everythin' but most of the things startin' off. Like cookin'? What was he like?"
Kellan goes home.
Vic nods and says, "Yeah, all of it. Reading and writing, math, the city — I love this city — and how things work, life skills and stuff like that. I pick up things quickly, though.. I'm already better at math than he was, and I didn't learn his morality. He was in trouble a lot with the law, had poor impulse control. But everything I know about growing up and being a human being I learned from his life." His gaze goes distance as he thinks, and there's a bittersweet smile on his lips. "He had it rough growing up. It made him put up armor to keep people out. He learned how to manipulate them. He blamed himself for his family neglecting him, and from getting bounced through foster homes. But he was kind. He'd buy a hot dog for a hungry guy, you know? Or steal it."
Watching quietly while Serendipity goes back through Vic's life, curious and patient, his tell-tale hovering appendages relax a little bit, serving as little more than a backdrop over the young man's head. A small, warm smile of wonder worn easily on Jay's expression while he peers into Vic's face. "Sounds like a complicated guy. It's too bad. But, he got t'teach you all of those things. No everyone's story is a happy one, but we all got a place. So long as you're able to learn from him and his life, it's almost like you get t'carry his legacy on." Jay squints softly. "Not…/as/ him, but almost like a kid. Just with his body." Shrugging gently. "It's all very neat."
Vic's focus returns and goes to those wings. A smile plays upon his lips. "Serendipitous," he says. "I feel like his life is a gift, and the best way I can show my gratitude is to carry on what he wanted. He planned on turning over a new leaf. He wanted to be a good guy. I can give his memory that much. It's why I want to join Contingency Plan." He bites the inside of his cheek, then says, "I get to redeem his name."
Late night after everyone went to bed after moving day, Jay and Vic are standing opposite around the kitchen table, talking. Both of them stripped down to the waist in preparation for bed, the two talk quietly, an empty plate in front of Vic. Midnight snack time.
The smile Jay wears warms softly over something Vic says. Sentimental, even. "That sounds…perfect. You ain't the only one who's so lucky in this situation, he is too." Brows loft upward a bit, hiding beneath the fringe of Jay's bright hair. "It's amazin'."
Kellan comes shuffling out of the bedroom in a pair of pajama bottoms, making his way out toward the kitchen while rubbing at his eyes a little bit. He pauses when he sees Jay and Vic there talking, glancing from one to the other, and then continues his shuffle toward the fridge to reach in and pull out some orange juice, pouring it into a glass.
Vic looks up and smiles at Kellan. "Hey, handsome," he says. "Speak the devil's name." To Jay, he says, "You're kind to say so. I mean to make that statement true every day we have together." He can't help but let his gaze linger on Kellan. He's just appreciating the view. "So how about you?" he asks Jay. "What brought you to the greatest city in the world?"
Jay turns when Vic's attention turns to Kellan, one hand still lingering on the table while the other drops to his side. Wings pull back so Jay can look around them easier. "Hey, Kellan. We didn't wake ya, did we?" A soft, uncertain fwip of his wings as he turns back to the table, looking down to his hands while Vic eye-bangs his boyfriend. His attention called back upward when Vic asks his question. "Oh. That's kind of complicated. My momma sent me here. Some stuff happened an' she couldn't really…deal with me any more." The innocent young man offers up a guilty smile and scoops his hand through his hair a couple times, arcs of red framing his face. "Mah brother was already livin' here, but he left when Ah arrived. Ah've been sort of on my own."
"Hey," Kellan says to Vic once he has his glass of orange juice and then raises his brows a bit. "Devil huh? Talking about me?" There's the faintest blush that touches the edges of his ears as he shuffles over closer toward Vic. Then he shakes his head to Jay and says, "Nope. I just woke up kinda on my own. Didn't hear you guys." He looks between the pair and then takes a swallow from his glass before he says to Jay, "That's too bad. Well, you've got us now." There's a friendly if sleepy smile extended his way.
Vic holds out his hand to Kellan, meaning to guide the youth to sit beside him. He offers Jay a sympathetic grimace. "Vic had something like that happen," he says quietly. "It's hard. I'm sorry that happened, but I'm glad you're with us. It'll be nice having a home to come to where people are glad to see you."
"What happened t'Vic, if you don't mind me askin?" Jay has to ask out of simple curiosity. Then corrects himself "Well, 'own' isn't completely true," Jay tilts his head to the side slightly, though he isn't sure yet if the guys know about where Lorna lives yet. "Ah made a couple good friends. The guy Ah was livin' with fer a while before that—oh, you remember Kevin? The little dog? His owner. Yer boss fer another, Vic. 'Bert is a good man. Couple others, but…" He shrugs gently and ignores the slight heat that touches his ears and coasts down his pale neck, staining it with color and threatening pink fingers across his muscular chest while he looks at his hands a moment, wings fwipping and whispering behind him. "Ah'm lucky Ah ran into y'all. An' Ah'm grateful fer it." Nodding gently as he looks back up between the pair. "In fact, Ah wanted t'ask if y'all wanted any sort of rent or anythin'. Ah don't wanna be a freeloader."
Kellan takes Vic's hand and allows himself to be pulled over closer, leaning in against his side while the two talk, looking from one to the other as they speak. There's a smile when Jay mentions that he's made some good friends, and he nods his head, "Yeah, I've been lucky at making some new friends recently, too." Though when Jay asks about rent, he grins and says, "My parents got me this apartment since I wasn't going to school this year and taking it off. It's all paid for. Keep your money and save it up for stuff you need or want."
Vic slips his arm around Kellan's shoulders comfortably. They just fit together like puzzle pieces. He lowers his gaze as he says to Jay, "On the last day of his prison sentence, he got beaten in the shower. They transferred him to the hospital because he was nonresponsive. It was quick. He barely knew what hit him." Whoever did it, they weren't looking to teach a lesson, they were trying to put him down." Eager to dismiss the mental image from his mind, he says, "Kevin! I remember. Friendly little guy."
The couple gets close and Jay's hands get really interesting for a few moments, picking at one of his cuticles a little bit; wings draw upward and slowly stretch, pressing away from his back to hover just off his skin. Explaining where the apartment came from, he nods a couple of times in understanding. "That's mighty kind of you, Kel. Thank you. How about Ah help with groceries an' stuff, how's that? Ah work at a grocer, so it ain't out'a my way or anythin'." Lifting his attention back toward the pair with an uncertain flick of his lashes, though his gaze settles more steadily the second time. "…Ah…sorta meant when y'said he had something like what happened to me to him. Good Lord, that's terrible, what they did t'him. Blessin' that it was so quick." Jay murmurs with palpable mournfulness to Vic while he explains the last moments when Vic was Vic. It hits him rather hard, considering that he didn't know the guy. Soft-hearted, this one, and not particularly good with death. Recalling stupid, happy Kevin, Jay smiles very slightly, though it doesn't do much more than just take the edge off that lingering sense of mourning.
"Sure," Kellan says to Jay and then nods toward Vic. "He helps out too even though he doesn't have to. I mean, it's fine. If you want to help you can. It's just not required. I mean, the way I look at it, we have the space and we're not using it all, why not share, right?" He smiles over at Vic and nestles into the curve of his arm. His own slips low around Vic's back as he continues to drink his OJ. There's a slow nod for when Vic's fate is described, but he doesn't linger on it either. "Kevin was the dog, right?"
"I bring food from Bert's though he hasn't been open this week," Vic says. He reaches across the table to give Jay's hand a squeeze. "I'm sorry," he says. "I misunderstood. His mother gave him up to the state. She just didn't want him around anymore. I guess it's not really the same. When you explained your situation, I felt a pang of… understanding? Empathy? I'm still figuring these things out." He presses a kiss to Kellan's hair. His lingering mourning requires comfort, and that's what Kellan's presence provides.
Jay nods a couple of times to Kellan, confirming who Kevin was and the short introduction they had at the park and cafe while Jay cuddled the little loving beastie in his lap under his overshirt. Vic's hand reaches across the table to squeeze his and Jay is only slightly startled, not expecting the gesture in the least, wings twitch and then calm with a genial smile to the newborn soul. Jay squeezes back and lets Vic's hand go, letting him get back to his boyfriend. "Empathy," Jay nods, pinning down the feeling. "That's what that's like, yeah. It's…not really the same but a little bit. You were usin' somethin' you experienced t'understand somethin' I went through. Not bad. Mah momma still cares fer me, but Ah made things hard on her. Daddy died a bit ago so it's just her, an' with all of us turnin' out to be mutants, an' the people back in town not takin' too kind to it, it just…it's better if I'm not around." Jay flicks a longing smile toward the pair after he sort of explains the situation; homesick. Wings slick down to his back smoothly, compressed as Jay presses slowly to his feet. A light smile turned back to the couple. "Ah'm gonna try t'get some sleep, Ah think."
"That must be really hard," Kellan says with a frown, "To be without your family. Are you close with them?" he asks. "Maybe we could get them to come up here, some of them, or go out there for a visit, something so that you could see them somewhere?" It's clear that the wheels are turning in his head to find a way to reunite Jay with his family, or at least part of it for a littel bit if he can. He glances over to Vic as though checking to see if he's in on the idea. When Jay goes to leave though, Kellan slips away from Vic and goes over to give Jay a hug if he allows it, just a brief one, but warm, without any further words. Then he finishes off his OJ and slips back over to Vic's side. "Coming back to bed?" he asks him quietly when it seems Jay is going to get some rest.
Vic nods to Jay with a sympathetic grimace, but then he smiles softy and says, "You've got us. I know it's not the same, but at least you never need to be alone." He does, however, have to watch Vic give Kellan a cuddle. "That's a good thing to work for," he says with a nod to Kellan. "To bring them up to visit." He lets Kellan go, but continues to watch him. He nods then and gets to his feet to take his dishes to the sink. "Yeah, I'm exhausted," he says in a tone that states he is not at all exhausted. But hey, bed sounds good.
Jay pauses on his way to his sleeping corner to give Kellan a wistful smile and nod, sad, but on another angle to it, there's a sense of /pride/ over his family. "Yeah, it is. We're a close knit bunch. Everythin' here is so different, it's taken some gettin' used to, you know? Like Lorna said the other day, it's hard when everythin's new." He smiles, a little warmer, nodding toward Vic. "You'd know that part better than any of us, probably. But…Ah've been lucky t'have a couple of really…really great folks around when Ah really needed them." Jay smiles with a bashful dip of his chin, cheeks warming with color.
Kellan gets to his feet and leaves his boyfriend's side. Jay tries to sidestep him at first, figuring that he's in the twin's way, when the guy surprises him with a hug. Startled, his hands hang uselessly out to the side for a moment, then reaches around to embrace Kellan back warmly, squeezing and patting his back once before letting him go. Hanging there for a second, the angel seems bashful, stuck in place as he nods to Vic. "Maybe. There's just a lot of us, y'know? It's not super practical. But hey, thanks. Fer the talk an', well, fer everythin'."
Kellan grins and says, "We here at Miller and Miller specialize in the impractical," to Jay with a grin that goes right up to his eyes, all sparkling mischief. Then he withdraws and heads back toward the bedroom. He pauses to press a kiss against Vic's shoulder on the way by, heading back in and letting Vic remain to talk or join him when and if he pleases.
Vic gives Kellan a kiss on the temple, then watches him head to the bedroom. Hates to see him go but loves to watch him leave. "We've all had some good luck," Vic says. He wanders over to Jay to give him a hug, too. "Get some rest," he says. "Thanks for keeping me company. I like our talks." He claps Jay on the shoulder, and his gaze goes back to the bedroom. Oh yes. There's not going to be a lot of sleep going on in there.
Jay smiles back to Kellan, lopsided and naturally a little bit of a goober. "Ya don't say?" Bowing his head a little as the pair have their affectionate moment, Jay is taken by surprise when Vic lines up and gives him a hug as well, his wings flying outward slightly to keep his balance. With a softly whispering laugh, Jay squeezes Vic back and claps him on the back as well. "My pleasure, Vic. Any time y'can't sleep an' want a snack, you know where Ah'm at." His whole face flushes when he catches the lingering look Vic casts toward the bedroom, looking down at his bare feet again. Uncomfortable, but he smiles a little bit anyway, lowering his tone to just Vic. "You two look good t'gether. Go on. He's gonna fall asleep if ya don't git."