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Jebediah missed his feathered brother. Even if they do work in the exact same place, he can still find a way to miss him. Especially when there have been a couple nights recently that Jebediah has taken off. It can be gathered that he's very likely taking them off for night art classes or some strange art project… he's been using a lot of blues and studying some strange Greek artist who draws a lot of naked men… he never wants to talk about it when Sam nearly catches him at it and not because he'd recently gotten in some back alley fisticuffs and was nursing a black eye he didn't want to be lectured about. It's a good change but it does mean that he sees less of Jay and Jay and he have less time to catch up with one another, to know what Jay's up to.. about his romantic life… if he's okay. Is he eating enough? Is he taking care of his feathers? Someone has to worry about Jay, alright?
So as they were closing down the bar tonight, he'd asked Jay if he'd like to walk home with him and you know, come over maybe. Stay the night. Sam was out. There was room. He has a coffee maker now. And that record player. And like, a decent amount of food if Jay's hungry, and and and. How many things does Jebediah manage to get out before Jay tells him to hush and he'll come over?
It's not hard to get Jay to come over. The apartment is near the club and though Jay is orried about Kaleb right now after yet another problem….Jeb's important, too. One night. He can spare one night.
Following his little brother back to his apartment, totally not so he has no time to clean up and look like he isn't failing at living alone, but more or less because it's just easier that way to travel together to the building, and Jay can hide behind him if they run into one of the two people he definitely doesn't want to see. Just easier that way. "So have you an' Doug been talkin' more about school stuff?"
"When he can get me to. Ah don't know, Jay. It costs money and stuff, y'know and then Ah'd have less to send to mama." Jebediah answers Jay as they walk up the stairs to his floor. "And Ah don't know, Ah worry? That maybe Ah ain't got 'enough talent for school. Most of those students were born with art in their fingertips, Ah just recently started toying with the talent. They want a 'portfolier'. Ah'd need to put one together."
He unlocks the door, and the apartment for the most part looks fine. Clean, no dishes in the sink, everything just about the same as when he'd first moved in… except for the pile of broken pallets off to one side of the living room and the coffee table is camoflauged in sketches and half finished paintings, broken pencils. A real fancy art book left open and upside down, binding already cracking, indicating that Jeb has been feverishly reading through it again and again. That… that's a mess. But everything else looks remarkably like an adult lives here, and not a rambunctious teenager who's never done laundry before in his life. "How are you and Doug doing? Is there anything new going on? We haven't been able to talk enough."
"Yeah, but Sam, Paige an' Ah are all sending stuff back home, and without you there, that's one less mouth to feed, so it's not like she's honestly any worse fer wear than before you moved up here," Jay points out with an arch of his brows. "Plus, if you go t'school, you can get a fancy degree, and then make up for whatever money y'think you'd be slightin' her. You know damn well that Momma would want you to do it." Smiling encouragingly to his brother. "What the hell's a portfolier?" He has to ask.
Jay takes a look around, because he's nosy and because he has to make sure that his brothers are okay. The pallets are given a speculative look, but there's a smile along with it.
Pfft, never done laundry in his life. Are you fucking kidding me? There are eleven kids in their family. All of them do laundry, cook, clean, tend animals and muck pens. Don't even front!
"Doug an' Ah are okay, I guess." Jay shrugs a shoulder, his smile remains in place lightly. "He's, you know, still on the same old tears as he always is. Thinks Ah'm ashamed of us and blah blah blah, though he did admit the other day that he's a big ol' hypocrite because his parents don't even know he's a mutie, much less that he's seein' a man. Ah found him down at that place Ah told ya about, Saganaki, an' had a good time. Lambs is good people."
"Ah know, Ah know, but Ah'm still one'a the oldest. Ah'm supposed to take care of her." There are four before you, Jeb. You're the middle child. You're one of the younger ones, actually, Jebediah Guthrie. His eyes light up when there's something that he knows that Jay doesn't. He smiles wide. "A Porfolier? Okay, so it's like, you take all your best art, and kinda make a little book out of it to submit to the school so they can judge it. That's how you get in. There's not a test or anything that you gotta pass. So, Ah'd have to take all my best drawings or paintings or take a picture of the word burnin's Ah do and that's what Ah send it to see if they'll accept me or not."
Jeb stiffens a little when Jay's eyes land on his mess of a living room. "Ah promise that's the only part of this place that's a catastrophe. Bedroom's fine. Everythin' else is fine. Cleaned the bathroom this mornin' even." He defends even though Jay's smiling. "Saganaki! Ah went there! And Jay!" Jeb grabs his brother's wrist and shakes it in his excitement. "Ah met a vampire! He's mah new friend! Ah like him a real lot. He's real smart!" Also, met Jay's other 'boyfriend'? But he momentarily forgets about that to gush about Morbius. "Ah made him a moon, out of the wood, and he really liked it! He speaks Greek! And a buncha other languages and he's a /doctor/ but a sciency one! Isn't that cool! He can make cures for illnesses and stuff."
Jay isn't going to argue with Jeb over what his responsibilities are. Not right now at least. There are other times for that argument to go down, and right now there's more to talk about. "So it's like a mix tape but for art. Neat," Jay has to translate 'portfolio' into terms that he actually understands, and it seems pretty simple, actually. "So ya anxious over what to pick? How many pieces gotta be in yer portfolio before it's enough?" Definitely invested and interested in this idea. In Jeb's passion.
Trying to keep up with Jeb's gushing, Jay slowly walks over to the couch and settles down, moving very slowly, nodding occassionally while Jeb just runs his mouth. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh, what? Oh, okay? Yeah. I follow. "You met a doctor vampire at Bert's restaurant?"
"Mixtape for art! Yeah, that's exactly it! And most schools want a few pieces, three or four pieces would be good. Ah just haven't figured out what Ah'm best at." He explains. It clearly makes Jeb feel really, really good that Jay is asking him questions about it. His whole face seems to light up and he gets so excited about the answer that when he joins Jay on the couch, he's half on top of him as he leans forward and pulls a sketch of a ship out, and then one that was clearly a beginning attempt at Jay, the wings are shockingly real, the anatomy is better than the last time he'd attempted to draw a person, he's been studying. The table is littered with sketches of feathers and when they're colored, they're always red. Half in Jay's lap, Jeb is handing the sketches he's prouder of back to his brother for him to see.
"A /vampire/." Jebediah says again with so much damn awe in his voice, like he was talking about a unicorn sighting, not something horrifying like a blood sucking vampire. "A really smart vampire! And he doesn't even think Ah'm stupid, Ah don't think. Ah made him something. And he really liked it, Jay! He did! He said he'll hang it up! He's my friend. His name is Mister Morbius! He came from Greece!"
Jay smiles over the exchange, understanding more of what's happening in his brother's life. What's in the vivid forefront of his mind and what he's working on. Nodding a couple of times, he leans in when those sketches come out. So many feathers! "Oh, wow…" Jay breathes out, in awe while he starts flipping through. Shaking his head. "Man, you gotta talk to Kai. Seriously. These are all really, really good." Gathering up pages and pages of drawings as they're thrust at him. Chuckling very softly in a whisper, there's a little bit of bashfulness in his tone. "You kinda got a feather thing goin' on here huh?" Can't blame him. I mean…a lot of people love his feathers. Feathers in general. Even Jay has a fondness for them.
"You met a doctor called Mister Morbius? Is he really a doctor, then?" Jay arches an eyebrow upward. "Ah mean, Ah guess that doesn't matter so long as he's not tryin' to eat you and everythin'. A Greek vampire doctor, huh. Well that explains why he was at Saganaki, huh!?" the angel imposter smiles impishly.
"Ah have a brother or somethin' Ah'm real fond of that has feathers or whatever." Jeb says, trying to make it casual. "Yer just.. Yer the coolest person Ah ever met up until Ah met Morbius, Jay. You can fly and your wings are so pretty. Such a loud red.. there's a word Ah learned. Vivid. Vivid red. That's what yer wings is." He explains, flushing himself, enough to match Jay's wings. He's still half in his brother's lap, hasn't bothered to move just yet. "You really think so, Jay? You really think they're good?"
"Well Ah suppose Ah could call him Doctor Morbius but he ain't never corrected me when Ah called him Mister Morbius. He ain't gonna eat me. He eats Greek food and Ah don't know where he gets the blood but he expressed no interest in little southern boy blood. Ah probably taste like moonshine, squirrels and trouble." Jeb teases before he jumps up. "Do you wanna see the new project Ah'm working on for him? It's huge. Ah have to take a picture of it afore Ah give it to him."
The elder brother laughs lightly, reaching over to ruffle Jeb. "Oh the coolest until you met this doctor guy, huh?" He smiles warmly, eyes glowing with humor as he pushes his brother's head away again with a ruffle. "Yeah Ah think they're good. Yer only going t'get better, too, Jeb. It's going to be amazing, seein' what you can do."
Sitting back when Jeb jumps up, tucking one leg beneath his seat, Jay spreads an arm out over the back of the couch, his chest opening up, broad. "Yeah show me what yer workin' on. What you've been up to. Though, you said you already made him somethin', raght? There a particular reason yer makin' him more? His birthday or somethin'?"
"Well, Jay, he's a vampire, alright? He's got crazy eyes and long claws. And he's a vampire. And a doctor. And you're just my smelly brother with wings." Jeb teases, patting Jay's cheek as he jumps up and skittering away before Jay can retaliate. "Well, he's been sad. He's in this crazy relationship and it makes him all kinds of tore up inside. So Ah wanna do something that makes him feel better because he doesn't wanna leave the one guy but there's like… multiple guys. It's.. It's a real weird thing they're in and Sam was scared Kaleb was the one who was gonna introduce us to queer sex rings." Jeb mutters but waves off that sentence as he moves to the closet to pull out a rather large hunk of wood. Might have been a cabinet door or something like it once. Likely pilfered from someone's 'for free' roadside stuff or a dumpster. He's working through moon phases on it, all in a circle, but it's only partially done. "After Ah get all the moons on it, Ah'm gonna put constellations in the background. Ah gotta get the book out of the library again to see them." He explains, dragging it over to Jay. "Ah'm making Mister Morbius somethin' else because he's in a rough relationship and someone ought to do somethin' to make him happy."
That's…a little uncomforatble and sounds familiar. But New York is a big city, right? There has to be a lot of that going around. Jay's smile doesn't faulter, but his wings fwip thoughtfully behind him. "Heh, yeah…Sam's got some funny ideas about stuff. City folks do, too, though. Kaleb weren't ever going to be that sort anyway. He's a one person kinda guy, through and through. It's still nice of you to try to cheer him up. STill, he's got the choice t'stay or go, so he must get somethin' out of it all. Yer a good friend t'have, Sprout." Watching Jeb try to drag what seems like a whole cabinet at first, Jay leans forward, sort of getting up. "You need help? That looks like a big—oh, okay. You got it?" Still uncertain, he stuffs down his big brother reflex and sits down again. Smiling, he leans forward, elbows on his thighs. "Oh, wow. Which constellations ya gonna put in it?"
"New Yorkers are weird. Thought all relationships were just supposed to be one person? But the dude he is seeing, he doesn't even really ask him if he can see other people too? He just does? And that's why Mister Morbius is all twisted but he really loves the guy." He looks at Jay in a somewhat knowing manner when his wings rustle. He doesn't bring up Elmo though. Jay can tell him when Jay wants to tell him. "Ah know Kaleb isn't like that. Ah think Sam's just real protective, because he's the oldest'n all. He's gotta shield us from the big bad world." There almost sounds like something melancholy in Jeb's voice when he mentions that he knows Kaleb isn't like that. Strange.
Jeb smiles almost bashful when Jay tells him he's a good friend and waves Jay to sit down. "Well, the big and little dipper for sure because Ah know them. And then, maybe some a those horoscope ones and there's a one called Pegasus. That one too, maybe." He explains. "Orion." He sets it against the table so Jay can really look at it and join him on the couch again, leaning against Jay's shoulder. "Ah think.. if it won't make you upset, Ah might put a sketch of you in my porfolio."
"That's what Ah thought, too, Jeb," Jay admits with a shrug. "Ah mean, datin's one thing. You an' Ah both know Sam's rarely ever jus' datin' one person at a time, after all. But a relationship, a serious relationship? Ah always figured that was more one-on-one, too." He sighs and shrugs a shoulder, smiling helplessly at his younger brother. "Who knows, yaknow? It ain't our place to judge so long as people are happy, but if he's upset about it, Ah feel bad fer him. It's too bad. Love makes us do weird things." Jay hums and peers at the large board again, tilting his head. "You know what would be cool, but Ah dunno how you'd actually do it…" He hums, thoughtfully. "If ya found out when his birthday was, an' replicated th' night sky durin' that time of year." Because of course the boys at least have a rudimentary knowledge of constellations or the stars. What the hell else do they do out in bum fuck nowhere?
Jay breaks his reverie, thinking about Jeb's art project, and blinks, smiling calmly at his brother. "Sure, Ah don't mind. Ah've posed fer Kai a couple times, just quickly, but still there. If ya don't think it would /hurt/ yer chances to get into school to have a mutant in yer portfolio?" He frowns thoughtfully, then arches his brows, his smile reappearing. "You maght just have t'let them think that it's a drawin' of a generic angel."
"Well, does Sam even do relationships? Ah thought he just melted the panties off every girl he meets and then only sees 'em a couple more times before he moves onto a new one. Ah hope he settles down afore mama has a heart attack about him. He's probably supposed to be married or somethin' by now." Jeb huffs. "Ah do think it's supposed to be a person and a person, Ah don't really think it matters about the two people but just two of em. But Morbius is a vampire so Ah think he gets scared that if he leaves his partner then ain't no one gonna never love him because /he/ thinks he's a big scary vampire no one else is gonna wanna kiss. But Ah don't know. Ah think he's cool, so there's probably loads of other people who will too. People who won't make him sad."
His eyes light up when Jay gives him that idea. "Jay! Yer a genius! That's amazing! Ah'll go to the restaurant and find 'im and weasel his birthday out of him. The library has got a million books on the stars, Ah could find it out somehow." He bounces a little beside Jay, full of creative energy now. Why didn't he ask Morbius his birthday? Too busy tryin' to tell him he deserved to be loved better, he reckons.
"Ah could do that and then Ah would know it was you. Ah'll make it so good that they'll frame it and it'll win a contest and it'll be of my mutant brother the whole time." Jeb says proudly with a smile as he straightens himself up.
Jay chuckles in a soft whisper while Jeb theorizes on their older brother. I mean…he's not wrong for the most part. Smiling gently, his eyes curning into little green crescents of amusement. Then shrugs gently regarding Jeb's friend. "Ah can't say. It stands t'reason Ah reckon that if someone were like…a legit /monster/ sort, that they'd be afraid folks wouldn't like 'em. Or maybe he jus' genuinely loves the other guy. Ah know how the heart sometimes jus' wants what it wants." Jay shrugs, throwing theories out there. "It's sad, though. Still, he's lucky t'have a pal like you."
Turning his smile over to his bouncing, energetic brother, Jay remains a bastion of calm, pleased with the response. "Well, sure. There are those little star chart circles that show ya what appears when. We had one growin' up, remember? Got it outta the back of that goofy magazine, had to pin the two parts together with a fastener. It'd be easy t'find. Ah ain't a genius, though. Jus' good at findin' ideas fer gifts, Ah guess."
Jebediah rocks a little when Jay tells him again that Morbius is lucky to have him. "Fear of being left behind and left alone is very real. Ah get scareda that stuff too. Ah'm still afraid that you are gonna stop comin' round one day and that Sam will move out for good and never come back. Ah don't wanna be by myself either." He says with a shrug. "Mister Morbius, he won't be alone. Ah think he's good friends with your Lambert fellow because he told me Ah should meet him and well, he hangs out in /his/ restaurant. And he has me too. So he won't be alone, but maybe he's real afraid of never bein' loved again. And Ah think he does, really love the guy a lot. He was yellin' at one of the other lovers when Ah met him because the other guy didn't even know how to take care of their shared boyfriend, because ah guess he's got seizures?"
"Yes! Ah remember now. You /are/ a genius though. You always been real smart, Jay." He praises, bumping shoulders with his feathered brother again. "So, is there anything new with you? Must be since you never have time to visit your best brother any more." He makes sure that his tone is incredibly teasing.
Listening peacefully, Jay seems generally unbothered by the details of all this drama going on surrounding Jeb's friend, aside from the general concern of 'bless his heart, I sure hope it all turns out' sort of kindly southern sentiment. "That sounds like a lot of complicated stuff, but hey, if the guy's got some kind of medical condition, then all the better he's got a doctor lookin' out for him. That's good."
Blowing out a breath and leaning back into the couch when he's asked about what he's been up to, Jay remains the placid picture of calm and shrugs mildly. "Ah mean…Ah did a couple missions an' stuff fer the school that were cool, but otherwise jus' doin' a lot of stuff at the club like you see. Tryin' to get mah final list of songs put together so Ah can start puttin' em out to production labels, an' Doug's helpin' me get that goin'. Otherwise, it's a whole lot of jus' tryin' to stay busy an' gettin' around to make sure Ah get to see the people Ah wanna see. Like you." He nudges Jeb with a lean and easy smile. "Really not much interestin' to report."
"Someone is gonna pick that up really fast, Jay. So fast. You got a beautiful voice and you play amazing. See, you're gonna be a famous rocker, then Ah'm gonna be a famous.. some kind of artist. Ah don't know what kind. A famous burner. And then we're gonna set mama up in a nice mansion where she ain't gonna have to worry about nothin' forever. Ah'll buy her the whole damn town and Ah'll outlaw Cabots from it and she'll be set for life." Jeb says, squeezing his brother's wrist. Jay doesn't mention Elmo and Jeb's not gonna push him either. All he really wanted to know is if his brother's been hurt by the other man at all. If he ain't even worth mentionin' then Elmo probably ain't messed up yet. Maybe Jeb's just looking for an excuse to go knock his teeth out anyway. The tiny shocky mutant had really rubbed Jeb the wrong way. "You hungry? Can make us somethin' fore we hit the hay."
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