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Kaleb got home from class early and was actually… whistling. It was in two octaves at once. Flashy, but he was in a supurlative mood. It was drizzly for a January in this soggy mild winter and that left him with a sharp heather grey hat on at a jaunty angle that matched his longer wool coat. Always withthe grey. Come February it's going to be hard to find him if he falls down blending withthe ground the sky and everything else. Stepping in he let the whistle 'tone out' giving him a sharp and immediate impression of who and what was in the apartment. It was creepy that he could pick out, "Jeb." Just creepy.
Jebediah wonders if he should call the exorcist immediately because Kaleb seems to be in a good mood. When he hears the whistle followed by his name, he pops his head out from the kitchen, newspaper in hand. Ripped jeans and a shirt that looks like it might actually fit him.. (maybe it's /new/) are his attire. "Lettuce! You're home early. Want me to fix you up a coffee?" He asks, an eyebrow raised curiously at the early arrival.
Kaleb pivoted smoothly n toe and heel, paused and ticked his finger at Jeb "I-…yes actually. That'd be swell. I heard you are looking into an apartment? Bravo. I wanted to talk to you about commute though and work that out." Coat was left on the hall tree by the door, thought he hat stayed on. A real Frank Sinatra Jr. this one. "How was your morning?"
Jebediah looks at Kaleb curiously. "Did Kellan tell you? Don't tell Jay just yet, alright? He'll get real worked up over the idear of me livin' alone. This is supposed to make everythin' less stressful for him." Jeb explains while he busies himself making coffee, setting his newspaper on the counter. "You're in a real good mood, Cabbage. Thanks for your help. Ah found a place in Mutant Town that Ah think'll work out just fine. Close to the bar."
Kaleb blinks and boggles at Jeb, "I hear everything. Like… there's a lady with a baby two buildings down and I can tell you what she's complaining about on the phone levels of like… everything. It's fine. It's not my information to tell." He looked at Jeb like why would I tell Jay? He considered and said with apprehension, "Careful. That's a really dangerous neighbourhood. You sequester a group of people who don' t have enough and can't get what they need and it's a breeding ground for violence. Little money going through that area to sustain needs."
"Ah know that you do. Ah just didn't know you were here when ah was tellin' them." Jeb explains with a small smile as he brings over a cup of coffee to Kaleb, offering it to him. "Ah know it's dangerous but it's also cheap, and that's about the extent of my spendin' range: 'cheap'. Ah can take care of myself, got the shocking eyes, after all. Ah'll be careful. Though, 'breeding ground for violence' does sound like the perfect place for me."
Kaleb said in his general dry manner that bordered on sardonic, "Well unlike most of the world I try to mind my own business." He activly worked on curtailing the cussing since Jeb took such sharpp exception. He took a deep breath and folded the paper back and gave Jeb a long long look. Simply put he said, "I can't stop you…. well… I can. But this is your decision." Back to paper he went with a smile brightening, "Aha! there we go." Whatever it was he found he was seeking scissors out of the drawer to neatly cut out of the middle of hte page taking the crossword with it.
"You could. You could do that thing where you suggest somethin' in my head and Ah would have to obey ya. But, you can't tell me to live somewhere else when Ah ain't got the money to afford it." Jebediah says, not arguing, just trying to make Kaleb see that his options are vastly limited. He doesn' know what to do with Kaleb's smile, it seems almost foreign on his face. Before he can catch himself, he reaches out and fingers brush over Kaleb's cheek for the barest second. "You should do that, more often, smile. You look.. just.. just beautiful when you do." He stammers.
Kaleb looked sharply and watched Jeb carefuly. "Who… told you about that?" NOW he was very curious. That he was being touched startled him. He wasn't angry or appalled, bt it just didn't happen. From Kellan, sure, and he certainly was acutely aware when Max did these things to the point of distraction. It was bewildering. "What…did I do?" And it took him a moment to catch on.
Jebediah rarely calls anything 'beautiful' especially when it happened to also identify as male but Kaleb's smile is so startling that Jebediah can't help but be dazzled by it. It'll confuse him plenty later, why he thinks Kaleb's so damn pretty when he smiles but for right now, he's shocked mostly silent, limiting his vocabulary even more so than it already was. "You.. You smiled. You really smiled." He explains, hushed, like saying anything too loudly might frighten Kaleb off, or might scare Jebediah himself away. "It lit up your whole face and it was.. you.. you're really kind of beautiful, Kaleb."
Kaleb was a good looking kid. He knows this because he spends an hour and a half every morning redefining perfection in details only himself and his peers whose opinions he doesn't give two figs about cares at all about. And even then it was a battle of attrition to remove the small things someone would bring into question. Still it stopped him.
Kaleb blinked and said, "Um… thanks." He laughed more from being in a good mood and not certain how to take that in an artistic sense but took the compliment for what it was. "I appreciate that. Generally I let Kellan do it. He's better at it than I am. But, today's kinda a good day." It was an optimistic morning? Well Glory be! He was still smiling and said thoughtfully, "Sometimes, there are moments that still surprise me. This is probably a good thing. There's certain things in the world I jsut don't enjoy being right baout."
Jebediah goes to lean against the counter and misses the first time because Kaleb is still smiling and it seems to give birth to a hundred thousand butterflies in his stomach, fluttering around wildly trying to escape. Jebediah both hates and likes the feeling but he mostly doesn't know what to do with it, what to make of it. Everything must mean /something/ right? "You.. Yer really good at it too, Kaleb." And isn't that the second time he's used Kaleb's real name today? Is Jebediah blushing? There might be a tint of red to his cheeks. This was a trick. Kaleb had some secondary mutation with his smile that made Jebediah /feel things/ that was it. He's trying to commit it to memory, that smile.
"Ah wish that you could always have a good day, Lettuce, you deserve it. You are a real good person. Ah hope you know that." Jebediah says honestly and he hesitantly reaches over to pat the back of Kaleb's hand with his own.
Kaleb was commanding and imposing and awful. It must be so. Truth was when he wasn't ardently trying to be an asshole he could be an alright guy. Kaleb didn't shirk from being touched but he generally never sought to make contact. Today wasn't one of those days either. Still never habit for him to do per se. Let Jay explain the flaws in teh programming. "Well it's not every day I find out I may actually get to meet someone's family either. It's… interesting. A little nervous but I think I have some good will built up. But! I think I found something I want to get for Kellan. He's… overdue for a surprise I think."
"Max's family?" Jeb doesn't know a whole lot about anything but he knows that Max and Kaleb are together, he can tell by the way that Max is fiercely protective in a scary way but also, Jay clued him in. He wants to ask if they're all as terrifying as Max is but he doesn't. Kaleb is in a good mood and he's still smiling and Jeb is not going to be the one to ruin that. "What kind of surprise did you find him?"
Kaleb nodded without being at all facetious about it, "Yeah. Max went and finally got to talk to his brother last night. I talked to him on the phone last night and said it went… better than he expected and apparently told them about me…sort of. But was considering an introduction for the sake of political alliance. His people are… hmmmm influential and reclusive. Not all gifted communities are as public as ours is." So for whaveter that was about he wasn't a mMutant but was something. FOr a guy's whose power it was to make noise he was sure tight lipped on other people's business. There was a pause and the smile, please and not daft, persisted. "This is…good. For him I think. I know hisdemeanor can be…severe," Very diplomatic, Kaleb. Way to euphamize, "He comes from a royal line of politicians sooo learning politics has been… fun for me. Thankfully, that's something Kellan and i grew up a little familiar with. But I want to get him I think somethingto try out new hobbies with."
"Kale, they.. they aren't gonna hurt ya right? Because you're a guy and he's a guy? Are their views different to the ones we have here? Ah just don't want you to get hurt. Yer, ah think, a bit squishier than Max, right? He's an alien ain't he?" Jeb doesn't know a whole lot about Max, besides that he was scary and he wasn't from here exactly but he didn't know where he came from, what flavor of 'kind of human but not really' he was and Max was too terrifying to Jeb for Jeb to ever ask /him/ about it, plus, how does he know that asking Max questions about himself won't upset him and then maybe he'll be angry with Kaleb. There were too many unknown factors, too many question marks and Jeb is trying really, really hard not to ruin anyone else's life. "Yer gonna do great at the politic stuff, Lettuce, you're a damn genius." It's the being a squishy, slightly gay human in a gay relationship with these royal space politicians that makes Jeb worry a little.
Kaleb IS NOT A HUMAN! *ahem*
Kaleb paused and turned to Jeb and broken Kelb rule #4. His hand gave Jeb's shoulder a squeeze and assured, actually aware of what happened…. call teh exorcist. "Thanks for lookin out for me. Nah, in their nation it's not frowned upon at all. MOre that I'm… an outsider? Not like them, though being a …" He hated the word, "Mutant puts me at advantage too. I honestly have zero interest in politics. But, we've been working on alliance between our peoples Us and…well them… to keep their way of live private from the public eye cause… well as you say humans freak out when teh 'alien' part is dropped, but to a pointwe're working on helping one another out. Maximus and some of his folks have been supporting our school too, which, I need you to help me with." He paused and assured simply, "That we're both men hardly concerns them. The only thing they're really concerned about is who has children which is controlled by a board of geneticists and stuff. I'm not that deep into bio-sciences to get it but Maximus can explain if you're ever curious."
Kaleb was touching him, Kaleb was touching him on his own. He /does/ need to call an exorcist and tell him to bring extra holy water so he can cough these weird butterflies out of his stomach. Kaleb is thanking him too. Kaleb is acknowledging Jebediah's worries, making them valid and that alone makes Jeb want to hug him but he knows that will definitely scare Kaleb off. Instead he listens, listens to Kaleb explain about this crazy society where it doesn't matter who he loves. "We should bring that way of thinking here. Ah don't think it should matter either who you care for. Well, if they all look like Max, that's normal enough to fit in. Are they all ridiculously good looking? Is that a genetic trait? Because they'd have no problem fittin' in, just have a problem with all the dumb humans wantin' em." When Kaleb says he needs Jeb's help, Jeb shrinks a little. Last time Kaleb wanted Jeb's help it was to tell his oldest brother to take a hike. He's frightened of what task Kaleb may want from him next. "My help? With the school? Ah don't go to the school. Paige, Jay and Sam do though."
Kaleb cracked a smile and looked, shit, he looked wistful, "Sooo last summer when I got hurt, bad, when those fuckwits who think it's okay to expieremetn on mutants and turn su into lab projects or whatever started messin with my DNA and made me real sick? Max took me, with Kellan, to go stay with his people to make use of their facilities for recovery. This was… before. Anyways," he wanted a ands and carefully considered what he could tell about the culture without betraying state secrets, "THey don't all look like MAx. They don't all look like any one thing. They prize being different, unique, and looking 'human' or blending in? Not necessarily at all a virtue. Jay would be in higer regard than me there cause a- he's more obvious, but also? Flies." He nodded sagely. "I saw retillian people, buggy people, plantish people, a lady that turns into light. It was far out. One lady had skin made out of some sort of shell? She was gorgeous. You'd a loved her. ANyways, I don't… think 'fitting in' and diminishing who they are is high on their priority over all. Someday? I want to help build some sort of city state where our people can have that too."
Kaleb added offhandedly, "Sam's useless to me, Jeb. He doesn't like to fix things, he likes to do things his way and to that extent is a terrible team player. You, however, are useful. And don't matter. I need help and you said if I ever needed something ask so I am asking."
"Jay is more obvious and he does fly. You know, Ah always hated that everyone thought that made Jay a demon when it just makes him look like an angel to me. It's only fitting because he's very kind and gentle. He's a very good man. So, maybe Jay is an angel and I like that they would hold him in high regard. He would deserve that." Jebediah says with some kind of finality, like the whole world should just accept that Joshua Zachariah Guthrie was an angel because Jebediah proclaimed it.
"You think you'll still want me around that long? We might need to do a bit of growing before we can achieve all of that." He takes a little exception to Kaleb saying Sam is useless to him, but he doesn't let any of it show because he understands completely why Kaleb feels that way. Sam is real set in his ways and Kaleb is thinking bigger than Sam can. "Ah did say that and it is always valid. What do you need me to do?"
Kaleb shrugged and said, "I have noopinion on religion. I am, happy though, to just be proud of Jay for being Jay. Let's not make things into what they aren't. Unattainable expectation breeds depression. He looked at the clipping and bit the inside of his cheek with a thoughtful grin. "Kellan's been travelling a bit. I wanted to get him something for that."