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So, you know the saying that things can change in a New York minute? There's a good reason for that.
Morning. Like any other day on 5th Avenue. Birds are singing, traffic's gridlock, rich people litter the streets in their fancy jackets and Max's frankenstein coffee machine has gone MIA, but somehow the smell of coffee still permeates the apartment.
Jay comes out of his bedroom with a cup of coffee to leave on the counter for Kaleb to discover from the coffee fairy later. Quietly…QUIETLY shutting the door behind him, trying above and beyond all other things to not disturb the drunk remains of the body in his bed.
Kaleb got all of exactly 3 hours of sleep. It was a very long night withthe lamp on under his door pacing around and just drawing and working on his college trig notes until finally there was a one ring call at WAY too early in teh morning and eventually, eventually, paced around the living room, returned to his room and crashed. Maybe three hours. It was definiately a zombie Kaleb morning where he didn't jsut say 'everything is fine' in his terse crabby voice. Bathrobe was on and eyes were not even open in a literal sense. he let out a half-hearted grunt and just used area knowledge and echolocation to find…coffee.
|ROLL| Maximus +rolls 1d20 for: 16
Coffee fairy? Maybe. He does have wings after all. Maximus wouldn't buy it though. He totally busts Jay by being already awake, himself. He's not cooking or doing anything useful, though, besides being so incredibly still that he goes unnoticed for a minute. He's still wearing dress clothes, though no jacket anymore, and they are disheveled. His hair, too, and his steel eyes have that tired look about them. He's totally lurking and waiting for someone to be startled by him being here tucked into the corner.
Jebediah is sleeping /hard/ which is to be expected of someone who's never truly drank before having drank heavy the night before. The boy is nearly dead to the world and doesn't stir when Jay leaves the room. He's laying in an almost painful position too, on his stomach, putting a lot of strain on his neck but he looks at complete ease, a little snore is all the noise he gives to indicate he's even alive.
It's one of Jay's unofficial jobs after all: make coffee happen. Max's explosive device masquerading as a coffee maker gone hasn't stopped that from happening. So Jay went about making magic happen while praying that Jeb didn't wake up, putting him behind schedule long enough that he sets the cup down just as Kaleb comes zombie shuffling from his bedroom. His voice lowered to a hush, he doesn't immediately notice Max. His vision must be based on motion. "Oh. Hey. Mornin'. You—" squinting, Jay gives Kaleb a once over and promptly shuts up, simply offering the cup out at arm's length to Kaleb. Here. Put this in your face. A steady and supportive squeeze on the sonic's shoulder was brief as Jay moves past with another murmur. "Everythin's gonna be okay." No idea that he's already gotten news, Jay scoots by quickly, trying to get to his ajar bedroom door and shut it, quickly.
shuffle shuffle shuffle
The sleepy sonic stopped and tilted his head, jJay's words giving the room more clarity an- oh coffee. More than coffee. Good. all things were… there was a Max here. The call was all he'd really asked for but this was enough to take the tension out of his shoulders. Kaleb cracked his eyes open to Jay and said, hoarse voice, "Yeah. It will be. Said as much didn't I?" Chiefly to convince himself for 6 hours last night but he let the facade of arrogance rebuild his emotional fortitude. He patted Jay's shoulder as a silent, 'thank you' and shambled over to Maximus who stayed camped out there so Kaleb would grab any sleep. He already knew this because else he'd bhave been up fussing.
Not that he ever showed affection there were exceptions where Max got a smooch to teh top of the forehead and a light jostle to wake him up enough to tell him, "C'mon, we'll get you tucked in. You can tell me what happened later. UP…we go…" He gave Jay that tired look of 'gimme a sec… and don't drink my coffee. I need that to function…at all'.
When Jay shuts the door quickly, it jostles Jebediah just enough for him to make a noise of complaint and turn to make sure he coats his brother's bed in drool. Another small snore and Jebediah pulls all of the blankets roughly around him and away from any unseen attackers. Still pretty dead to the world.
Oh shit, there's a Max on the couch. Damn. How'd he miss that? Jay scrubs a hand through his hair as he slides the door shut, guarding the doorknob behind his back. "Oh. Yeah, no, that's all yers, Kale. And yeah. You did." He's not going to bust anyone's balls over defense mechanisms right now.
Kaleb had a good plan, just say it was going to be just fine until it was. It worked. He was gone for a while and long enough to pull the drapes back closed to blot out the sun so Max can crash after a frantic bout of … who knows what. He was back and all teh pieces were right in the world. A few minutes later he came back for his coffee and muttered to Jay's door, "Moooorning, Ninette." he sipped his coffee. Goddamn he was exhausted.
The upside was that he used a woman's name. That's good. But Jay's eyes go wide none the less, quickly cutting his hand across his throat to silence Kaleb. "Uhh…" he quickly trails after his friend toward the counter, keeping his voice low. "Ninette's not in there." Jay's in damage control mode. his wings shivering slightly. "While we're on it, if you could not mention her a little, maybe, that'd be great…"
Kaleb drank his coffee and arched one eyebrow way up even though his eyes weren't open yet. "Damn, Jay. Good job. Yeah I won't raise the dead in front of the new administration. Mia culpa." Because he can only assume that's why we're not slinging more ladies' names aorund right? Coffee goooood though he did go scavenge the kitchen for food that was already whole like an orange. Those didn't come broken.
Jeb rises a little when voices become a thing. He rolls over, effectively tangling himself hopelessly in the blankets and falling off the bed with an ungraceful 'thud'. The floor was nice. That was a nice place to take a nap. Opening his eyes meant being alive and he just wasn't ready for that yet. The floor was nice and cool. He'll just stay there.
Jay rolls his eyes, inhaling a deep breath while he tries to manage the situation with slight tremors running through his wings. "Mia culpa? Wait. Ah get a 'good job' fer that?" Confused and surprised for a moment while he watches Kaleb zombie around the kitchen. He hears the thud on the floor and winces, strolling into the kitchen around Kaleb to fill a glass of water. "He's gonna have a hell of a hang over…" mumbling under his breath.
Kaleb blinked and gently asked, "Doooo they know they are here?" Someone sounds like they may have partied hard. Kale had the world blotted out during his evening of distractions from thinking about things like alien invasions and ambushing- you know what, let's not rehash that. It was all very awful. At the 'he' the other eyebrow joinedthe former and he siad, distinctly having the wrong impression of the situation, "Yeha you're definiately getting a 'g'job, Jay' for this. You…you alright?"
Jeb opens his eyes and immediately regrets ever being born as his head spins and throbs and his stomach churns angrily at the fact that the only thing Jeb has ingested in the past 48 hours was alcohol and bar peanuts. He whines and forgets where he is for a moment that he should be shuttin' up right about now but dear god, the pain. He sits up with much effort, still burritoed tight in Jay's blanket as he shuffles towards the door. "Josh…" he whines pitifully as he cracks the door open. "Do you got somethin' that'll get rid of this headache because ah'm just gonna throw myself off the balcony if'n you don't."
"Um, Ah dunno. We'll see how much he remembers," Jay runs the water and squints, cracking a manically quick smile as he strides quickly to where they keep the aspirin. "All raght? That's re-eal funny. Things just keep getting better an' better fer me, Kale." Sarcasm? Since when did Jay use sarcasm? Working around Kaleb at a quick pace, he cringes when he hears the name whined from his room. Rushing back toward his door, he pauses for a moment before heading in, looking back at Kaleb. Centering and bringing the moment back for a step. "Ah'm glad everythin' turned out okay. Or, that he came back all right." Sarcastic a second ago, Jay seems apologetic, trying to 'make up' for the snide remark with that one. Then rushes into his room.
"What're you doin' on the floor?" Jay brightens instantly as he strides to the floor where Jeb is burritoed up. "What'd you do to the sheets? Wow. Ah'm actually sorta impressed, here…"
Kaleb blinked at the thud. He couldn't help but he could see the scene unfold inside Jay's rooma nd was stoo tired for this so Jay got a slow nod. "Had I more energy right now I'd totally be judging you. You're off the hook presently." Words came about with coffee. At the threat of throwing himself off the balcony his nose wrinkled and he looked to Jay murmuring, "Oh don't let him do that. It'll lower the property value and the sirens will wake everyone up and then we'll have police all up in our personal business." He paused and stopped worrying about the mystery houseguest and took a long deep breath. Alright the moment got reala nd as such he gave his besty an earnest, "Thank you. I… are you going to introduce me to your mystery guest that's being eaten by the fitted sheet?"
"It was cool and my head is hot but not the rest of me. Why are you shoutin' at me? Shhhhh!" Jebediah whines and struggles to get one hand out to put a finger to his lips at Jay who isn't yelling at all but damn does it seem like it when his head hurts this much. He drops his hand from his lips heavily to the floor. "Ah live here now. On the floor. In this blanket. How much is the rent for this much of the floor?"
Jay quickly walks to the brunet young man with the thick country accent currently laying on the floor, wound up in his blankets. Kneeling down, he sets the glass and pills down on the night stand and starts peeling back layer upon layer. "Hangovers are fun, huh? At least ya haven't puked." Always an upside, isn't there. "Well, the blanket, plus the floor, plus the live-in service, ehhh Ah'd say y'owe me about a thousand bucks. Drink this." Jay tries to right Jeb, sitting him up on the floor with little to no effort, handing him the glass.
Bright eyes jump up to Kaleb, pressing his lips together into a thin line. "Kale, this is Jeb. Jeb, that's Kaleb. One of mah roommates."
Kaleb tiredly waved his hand like eeeeh give or take a grand. The back of his hand came up to cover a yawn thought eh words were dropped in Jay's ear along "Ah. Fmaily. You poor poor bastard… I'm turning the lights on on him. Objections?" Jay was a little put out and Kaleb had a bachelor's degree in being a prat. Still moving took effort and while he wasn't drinking he was still tired as hell on jsut the three hours of sleep. He was drinking his coffee when the sound, not words greeted Jeb, "Jay and I share a bathroom. Don't hurl on our floor. It's appreciated." It was his house and Jay already wontonly broke the 'hey we have mutants here' thing by..well…being. He didn't see the need for shadow games when the other option was less effort and that won with him right now.
Jeb puts up the world's most pathetic fight when Jay goes about untangling him from his blanket cave with many half assed whines of "Lemme alone" and "Ah'm just fine where ah am." and of course "stop touchin' me!" Until Jay easily set him up as if Jeb didn't weigh anymore than a sack of potatoes and Jeb glares at him. "Ah'm your brother. Ah don't owe you anythin' maybe yer friend though. Did you call him 'Cabbage'?" He takes the cup from Jay with another huff. "I told you to stop yellin' at me too."
Jay puts up with Jeb's complaining like he doesn't even hear it. Water off a duck's back. Or a parent putting shoes on a pissy 7 year old. And suddenly it becomes clear how Jay can take care of a screaming, sobbing, fussing elf for two weeks. Or how he can get up and deal with Kaleb's routine expectations. "Ah said Kale, not Cabbage. Though 'Cabbage' ain't half bad. Drink, Ah ain't yellin' at you." Turning his attention up toward Kaleb. "Yeah, mah younger brother. Jebediah. Who didn't tell nobody he's apparently grown up enough to leave home. He's number five. An' no, ya ain't gotta be mean about it. He's feelin' crummy enough." A vague sketch of a smile angled toward Kaleb.
Kaleb was just driiiiinkin his coffee. Nope. He wasn't hiding a grin. Nuuuuuupe. At the comment about cabbage he sighed. Yes. he's heard it bsfore. Drily he siad, though evening out the sound to quiet and no sharps in the transmission, "Yeha. My mother named me after the most unpleasant thing she could fid that was still, unfortunately, good for you." He looked to Jay with some conspiracy and arched his eyebrows faintly instead of shrugging. It fit. he was comfortable with it. "Okay Jay, bathroom is yours. Jab… I'll see you in a couple hours. Jay," the sonic in teh bathrobe gave the birb's shoulder a pat. He was in for a looong morning. "You actually need help with anyhting knock." He might tell him he'll call someone to help or defer him to Vic, but he'll answer! If the sound wasn't dead in the wall. It was a lot of if's. "You need me wake my ass up. I'm going to take care of the flotsam of high society." He paused and added, "We should do lunch later." He glanced to Jeb one more times and pside nodded to him. "Pancakes." That was the best cure for a hangover. "With honey." And with that he shuffle shuffle shuffled back off to his room to crash in peace without worry of chunks of his life disappearing off the map.
"Ah'm gonna call him Cabbage, anyway. Ah like that better." Jeb huffs up at his brother and pointedly takes a drink of his water, not because Jay told him to, just because he wanted to. He's not listening to a thing Jay says, not at all. He holds his head with his opposite hand and takes a deep sigh. "Why does anyone drink? Alcohol is the devil's beverage, that's what it is. Ah'm bein' punished for somethin'. And ah told mama where ah was goin', Ah just didn't make it clear when ah'd be back… or if ah would. Quit pretendin' you ain't happy to see me. Ah'm your favorite brother."
Jay exchanges looks with Kaleb, a corner of his mouth barely twitching as he crouched next to his fussing sibling, helping him through his first real hangover. Dipping his head, he pats Kaleb's hand as it lands on his shoulder. "You need yer sleep. Ah got this. You go worry about yers an' Ah'll worry 'bout mine. we'll meet up somewhere in the middle. Sure. Pancakes sound good."
Turning his attention back on to Jeb when Kaleb heads off back to his room. "He's a good guy. Don't listen to what he says or…how he says it. More like…between the words? Ah dunno." Jay shrugs, scooping a hand through his hair while he searches Jeb's miserable expression. "People drink because fer a while it helps 'em stop thinkin' about how miserable other things are fer 'em. Trick is, it comes back double time afterward." Jay reaches up on the bedside table and takes the pills, handing them to Jeb. "Can't run ferever, right? Here, swallow these."
Jebediah pulls in a deep breath when Jay explains why people drink and nods. "It feels good for a little, for a few hours ah didn't think ah was the family disgrace or the worst thing to ever happen to mama an' you too. Felt nice but this is awful. Ah hate it. Ah'm never gonna drink again. Ah'll just start fires, same kind of high." He teases, cracking a half assed grin up at his brother, only because he's almost certain that smiling and his headache are linked together. He takes the pills offered to him, these at least he doesn't put up a fuss over. "He seems like a nice guy. Is he a good friend to you? Ah'll rough him up if he's not."
Jay presses his lips into a flat line and fixes Jeb with a look. "If you weren't already miserable, Ah'd hit you fer sayin' that. An' Ah promise, heh, yer gonna drink again." Knowing how many times he's heard people say the same thing, Jay crosses his legs on the floor, wings cocking out to either side awkwardly. "Just maybe not fer a little while, that's all." Trying to untable parts of his blanket from Jeb and shove it back up on the bed. "Whew. it's sweatin' outta you. Kale? Yeah. He's the best friend Ah've found while Ah've been here. Ah know you weren't really watchin', but he's like us, too. Him an' his brother."
"You'll get plenty of time later to hit me fer it. Save it up fer later. When you have a bad day you can just come home and hit me. Ah'll write it down in my book, 'punches mah brothers owe me for a rainy day'." Jeb teases as he leans his head back against the wall and looks out the door when Jay mentions that Kaleb is like them. Mutants. Kaleb is like Jeb too where he's lucky he can pass. "Ah'm glad. You know, Mama isn't the only one who worries 'bout you, Josh… hey. He didn't call you Josh. Just called you Jay." He pauses for a moment, trying to decide how he feels about that, whether or not he wants to give Jay a lecture about not using his Lucinda Guthrie-given name. He waits just long enough to give Jay anxiety, probably before he just asks. "You want me to call you that now? Ah can if you like it better." Easy, not even judgmental. If Jay wants to go off to New York and get a new name and a new life, Jeb seems inclined at least to let him have that.
"Write me an I.O.U.?" Jay suggests dryly, pushing up to his feet and pulling the curtains across his windows a little tighter. "Yeah, uh, after Ah moved here, Ah started goin' by Jay." He shrugs, trying to make the mention casual. Nope. No ulterior stories while his wings shiver softly. The silence filled by that whispering sound until Jeb breaks it. "Yeah, well, it's what people know me by. Cept Doug keeps callin' me 'Josh' sometimes. Ah just—" He sighs and turns back to his brother, still on the floor. Lowering his eyes, he shrugs and offers a hand out. "There's another guy with that name who thinks he's real hot shit. So. Just gets confusin'. C'mon get off the ground."
Sounds like this other Josh was a jerk. "Want me to fight him? Ah'll fight him." Jeb asks, as if he's any state currently to fight anyone. He gives a long suffering sigh and rolls his eyes when Jay offers his hand and tells him to get off the ground. "Ah can't stand up, ah'll die. Ah'm sure of it. Ah weighed the pros and cons of that whole walkin' ordeal and decided that it's not in my best interest to move from this exact place. Ah know you think you know best, but ah'm certain of it. Ah should stay right here. Forever."
"No, Ah don't want you to fight him, dummy," Jay quickly chastises his scrappy brother. "He heals from everythin', has genetically crafted himself to be what he thinks is perfect, invulnerable to everythin' on God's green earth, so jus' ferget it an' get up off the floor. C'mon." A little heat in Jay's voice this time. "Yer gonna need a shower. It'll make you feel better, Ah promise."
Added heat to Jay's voice tells Jebediah to listen. Jay's done this before, had to tell Jebediah to quit pulling his sister's hair or to get something out of his damn mouth, used the same heat whenever he caught Jeb and Ray jr up to no damn good. He can't tell if it's meant to make him obey or if it comes from Jay's disdain for this jerk who shares his name. He takes Jay's hand though and rises so as not to find out. "Alright, alright." he agrees. "The door on the left. Don't throw up on the living room rug. Ah remember."
And Jay isn't going to expand upon any of it, either as he stares down at Jebediah, unflinching. Pushing the gentle man too far never turns out well for folks, and when ersatz-dad pulls out the voice, it's time to listen. He nods and drags Jeb to his feet, wings fwipping softly. "Yeah. Kaleb would appreciate it. Towels in the closet in the bathroom. Yell if ya need anything, okay? You can stay in there as long as ya need to. We don't got any of momma's rules on shower times."
"That sounds like heaven, ain't you gotta pay for the water though? If one spot of the floor costs a thousand dollars, the water must be crazy expensive." He worries as he stretches once he's to his feet. And then he waves his hand to tell Jay he doesn't have to answer any more damn questions today about his new life. "Never mind. It's not my business. So, if ah don't come back after an hour, check and make sure ah didn't find a way to drown in a shower, okay?"
Picking up the rest of his blanket off the floor, Jay flicks a faint smile in Jeb's direction. "You an' Kale got a lot in common so far as questions go. We'll figure it all out over lunch, howssat?" STILL not sure how to break the whole 'I live with a bunch of homosexuals' sitation to him. Jay lets Jeb go on, buying time. "Ah'll check in on ya. If anyone can figger it out, it'd be you. Ah got faith." Teasing his younger brother.