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Vitale had admittedly been avoiding the garage since Severin had left. Not because he didn't want to see JP but because he was nervous, scared of what this meant for the team, scared of what it meant for his friendship with JP, and scared that maybe he'll be no longer wanted because he'll only serve as a reminder for the brother who is gone. It was only because Elmo had come over to Vitale's place, dragged him out and yelled at him for not taking care of himself in his lovingly grumpy yiddish way that Vitale had even come over here in the first place.
He walks into the garage. "JP?" He calls, and the nerves will likely be evident in his voice.
JP has been, likewise, sort of a ghost in his work lately. All pieces out of order, and worse, his little girl needed help and he had hsi hands tied. Sort of. The team was all over that but he wasn't innately a patient personand had been treating himself to being stuck in a mode. Perking up a hand waved from out under the barontosaurus motioning the voice over, "Hey V, c'mere. Hodl dis." Like no time had passed. "I'm stuck."
Vitale smiles as JP beckons him over, one arm sticking out from beneath the little dinosaur they had. "I'm pretty sure you're the only man alive who can say he got stuck under a baby dinosaur, JP." He teases as he walks over to push up on the machine so that JP can crawl out. "How long you been under there?"
A servo with a couple of wires cranked down on it was handed to Vitale. His voice echoed from around the inside of the chassis with that rumble of amusement that was pure and genuine as unapologetic JP ever has been in body and spirit, "Weeeel wha' year is it an' I'll answer that." Har har.
JP elaborated, "Started workin b'fore sunup cause I had this idea t'reinforce her. Been havin them flash..backs about the future." His voice trailed off and with both hands free was able to remove himself from the dino torso letting feet come down first and then the rest of him to drop to the pavement. He was covered in sweat and schmutz. He sniffed and rubbed the back of his wrist against one cheek to itch it moving some of the grease around. Boy didn't need a shower so much as he needed a fire hose. Those dark brown eyes squint and he wondered to Vitale, the infinitely more educated of the two of them, "Can one have flashbacks to somethin ya did that didn't happen yet?"
"I think you need a shower, pal and a good meal. Have you been sleepin' at all?" Vitale rubs JP's shoulder, then slides his hand to the back of JP's neck, healing anything JP might have and taking a little of the edge off of the exhaustion. "I don't think those would be called flashbacks, just like… visions of the future. Are you okay, JP?"
JP was exhausted and tired and jsut damaged from normal fatigue of the life of an active mechanic. Man he scrapped his shit too. That itches. A slow grin crept on his face forgetting for that moment that being within 5' of Vitale meant he was thiefing a lack of health off his clutch. "Merci." He paused though at the question if he was okay and arched an eyebrow countering, "You?" WHich was JP for well ain't we a pair? "Sleep's for hte un-ambitious. I looked that one up."
"I'm.. I'm here. Elmo came by, dragged me out of the house and yelled at me for not eating until I felt properly guilty for not taking care of myself." Vitale admits, going over to some shelf somewhere with paper towels and wetting one to bring it back to mother hen JP and wipe some of the grease off his face. "We're both a damn mess, JP. You gotta sleep, mio amico. You ain't no use to no one if you're dropping dead like sleeping beauty."
The grease got smudged about, but JP tried to dodge and then just accepted it. "She were drop dead gorgeous." Oh the puns. Taking the part back to the workbench he tapped it idly withthe screwdriver and offered, "You know we don' like you there wit'out back up. Honestly, mon ami? It what keepin me up in part. Seriously I jnow you got dis whole I gotta be my own man thing but given how merde be messin wit'us? SHould really ook inta' comin here."
Vitale makes a clucking noise at JP when he tries to dodge having his face cleaned and then, content that he'd gotten some of the grease off of JP's face, he allows him to move. "You are worried about me? Because Sev isn't with me? That's why you can't sleep?" All of this doesn't seem to make any sense to Vitale, as if JP and Elmo and Severin hadn't told him how important he was to the team before. Vitale follows JP over to the work bench, wet towel still at the ready as he tries taking JP's arm now to get some of the grease off of it as well. "Well, that's part of the reason I came over here… well, also to see if you still… wanted me comin' around but Elmo said he was movin' in with you and I think… I think I would like to live with you too. You guys, you're my real family."
JP looked to Vitale with that serious expression BIg Brother Gator got, "I worry cause that situation is scary as hell and one m'guys is man alone out there. Yeah. I fuckin worry. Gaaah- that feel slsimy." SLimy but the napkin is working slowly! He turned so abruptly the wet towel almost went into his eye and a wrist rest on Vitale's arm so he didnt have to grab him with dirty hand, "Hey, I dunno what goin on and there a lot of a lot goin on. But you didn' hurt anyone in tha' family so we cool. Sides… you's mon ami firs'." He grinned and wobbled his head, "Jes… come stay."
JP says, "Family should stick t'gether whenever possible."
"Well, I can't very well strip you and put you in the shower, so I'm doing my best here, you're filthy." Vitale teases. When JP turns and stills Vitale with his wrist, Vitale gives him his undivided attetnion. JP really, really wants Vitale to live with him. He's not sure that it's just protection, either, he thinks JP might just want him around because he wants him around. All the time. "You sure you won't get sick of me?" Vitale teases and then in one swift move, not seeming to care that JP was a greaseball and was going to get it all over Vitale's suit, Vitale pulls JP into a tight hug. "Okay, JP, okay. I'll come live with you."
JP laughed and countered, "I got work t'do. I'll cleanup after, not durin." He listened and carreid on in his matter of fact manner because it was easier for him to work from if I act like nothing's out of control we can handle anything mode. "Well… good. GOnna have to begin construction on a couple more walls but the space is huge man. Got Nate stayin here too and um, Sparkplug's come over too so ya know, no one will sleep cause we'll all be up playin pool like nature intended." No, JP that's not how nature works!
"Jean-Pierre, you're always working, you have to give yourself a break, especially when you're going through this much bullshit." Vitale chastises, squeezing JP tightly. "Nate too, huh? Ain't we just met him? You just gonna move everyone in. I would be happy to sleep on the floor as long as it was livin' here. Gotta make sure I don't give no forwardin' address or nothin'. I don't want mobsters banging down your door lookin' for me. And, you might need to help me move… I've got a lot of stuff. I'll have to half it."
JP boggled to Vitale totally unaware of wha tthe other options would even be. "Huh?" Yup no clue. Working out frustration was all he really knew, "Well I could go lookin f'trouble or pick a fight or somethin but… shit to do around here." He considered, "I know wher there's a storage facility. Lower East. Real nice. " The consumate salesman, always. "Aaaaaw hey be cool to Nate. He's from that place I went to. You dunno what it's like man."
"No, I would prefer that you were working and not gettin' into fights and trouble, though I know you're gonna anyway. With Elmo moving in you'll have plenty to do." He winks at JP like the devil he is. "I can find a storage facility. What place you went to? And I haven't been mean to him. I just don't know him, JP."
JP considered that and arched both eyebrows. "Well you got a point. Wit' Elmo here we have gotten a ton of things soldiered, an' that skylight patched." It was something. See? TOtally proud of that. Still his energy level was down. His shoulders lifted and dropped and he offered, "Look we'll figure this all out together. For now? Battling giant robos with giant robos in the future gave me an idea to make Barry here more combat ready in case!"
"Is that what your visions tell you you'll be doing?" Vitale asks, smiling slightly as the joke goes over JP's head. He's actually surprised that the bossman didn't catch onto that one. "How soon in the future? Can you tell?" There's a tinge of worry in Vitale's tone. "I'm there with you, right?"
JP snorted, "Well it ain' a vision. Is how I die when I'm 42. Blaze of fire and bolts and springs helpin save this place. Be AWESOME." He really had a way of puttin a silver lining on it didn't he? He bit his lip and looked across his shoulder to Vitale noting, "We can't let this place get like that. "Uhhhh 19…86? I think? 86, 88 ish. I'll have to ask Nate."
"Is Nate from the future?" Vitale asks, sucking in a deep breath at the knowledge that JP dies so young. "I will be with you and you won't die and we'll stop all that from happening, okay? As long as I'm with you, JP, you're not going to die."
JP nodded slowly, "Yeah man. He growin up there an' all. REal hard like we straight up outlawed an stuff. People all livin underground formin a resistance and ev'ryday people livin in fear? Reeeeally ain't right." He sighed and looked thoughtful, maybe even slightly sad until he found the silver lining again, eyebrow arching, "At least I was way old… and I look really good." You know, the important things. When V said his peace he picked up his head and warmed a grin tiltin his head, "Yous all gon' be so sick of me. You know how many rules there be by then?"
Vitale laughs when JP mentions that there being more rules. "You're my best friend, next to Elmo, I think I can put up with some rules if it means keeping you alive. Your forties isn't 'way old', Jean-Pierre, I'm going to keep you around a good long while, until you're eighty at least. Won't that be nice, you'll be the only grandpa at the nursing home who hasn't needed a single hip replacement."
JP grinned and strutted a little but, the JP everyone knows coming out, "I' be the hottest grandpa ever. Cept for one problem wit' that." He stopped preening to reiterate, "Ain' no one layin hands on mon petite. Hmm?" Oh yeah someone would have to challenge ihim in… what a drag race to even talk to that kid and then get past her no doubt.
Vitale smiles really widely at JP when he starts talking about how no one is ever touching his daughter. "No one is ever gonna be good enough, huh, JP? You can't keep her from dating ever. You know you want a gaggle of grandbabies. You probably even want a bunch more kids if I know you the way I do." Vitale follows JP, leaning on the wall. "Elmo and I talked about that, how we were going to move in, get you a girl and then you'll fill the garage with kids. Elmo said that's probably exactly the kind of life you'd want."
JP grinned, not modestly, but definiatly chagrinned. His head swam in a figure eight and he admitted finally "Yeaah maybe I do. I dunno. I come from big family, It''me that how it is. I like that, but now I got yous guys and it kinda the same. And nah, don' move no bird up in here. She like… redecorate shit. That ain' no good." He considered and said objectivly, "If Diz had a sister like her? Whoooo meybbe. Meybbe. Somethin amazin bout a gal know what a camshaft is, mon ami."
"You do know that every girl in the entire world isn't sugar and glitter right? I'm sure there's more than one girl like Diz out there. And knowin' you, you could find her, the way you flirt with anythin' that moves and could talk the skirt off of anyone with a pulse and workin' ears. Bet you could talk the pants off of someone deaf, even." Vitale teases, and this is normal, just two guys, being bros, talking about birds. "You sayin' we're all kinda like kids to you, JP?" He laughs a little at that.
JP let his head swim like a damn peacock! If Vitale was trying to get him to feel like himself? Oooooh boy ego was the way to do it. He waggled his eyebrows. Yeah he enjoyed this truth a lil much. Holding up a finger he said, "Hey now, the deaf speakin body language better than anyone. They know a good thing when they see it too I bet." A greasy hand reached out and double patted Vitale's cheek. NOW it had a handprint on it. Poor cheek. "Ain' sayin you kids, but am sayin you my people. An' I like it that way. Hey, we should both get out of here and do somethin. Should we bring the dino to help you move or you think a van be better?"
Vitale is fantastic at stroking egos and JP knows he's hotter than the sun. "You're a damn fantastic thing too, so when they see you, they're gonna hop right into your arms." Vitale says, big smile as JP pats his cheek with a greasy hand. Vitale wipes his cheek off with the paper towel and then tries to tug JP by the waist. "Alright, c'mon you, let's get you cleaned up. You need to get some food in you. And no, we're not bringing the /dinosaur/, Jean-Pierre."
JP dimpled a wry grin. Yup. there was some swagger there. "Now all we got do is hope things wit' Amelie is alright. I ain' got a phonecall. I know they callin me if that the case." He murured something in French looking SO DAMN DISAPPOINTED! "Awww you Jean-Pierre'd meeeee…" OH look at that pout! "What you don' wan the dono carryin your stuff? She veeeeer' delicate, I swear."
"It's your name and you look like you been sleepin' in a chimney that hasn't been clean in years and I'll bet you haven't eaten yet today. So you're gonna let me clean you up and feed you or I'll Jean-Pierre you again." Vitale says sternly, trying to sound commanding. It's hard to be stern when JP is being ridiculous though. Vitale lightly pokes JP's lower lip. "Put that away. Amelie is going to be okay, she's a Bonaventure and you know Severin ain't gonna let a thing happen to your baby girl. And while I'm sure your dinosaur is very delicate, you''re going to definitely call notice to us, and they'll just be on the look out for a dinosaur to find us."
JP let Vitale tuck his lip back in. fiiiine be that way. He considered the logic on that and offered to Vitale, holding his fingers up clearly in full on haggle mode trying to negotiate some fun back into this. "A'ight, but can we at least pretend t'break into your place?" There was teh plea bargain. "You know I love it when we get you t'break some rules." Tthe sly grin returned . "And, think of it this way, you cna help me build you a room. I'll teach you how."
Vitale tries to get his finger through a belt loop to drag JP towards the sink. "Alright, we can pretend to break into my house and steal all my stuff through my window, how's that sound? Make my parents think they got robbed and I was kidnapped." There, it's like a heist then, right. JP loves heists. "You're going to teach me how to build a room? You know I'm utterly useless when it comes to building or fixing anything, right? I can shoot a gun and I have deadly aim with a knife, but other than that and my healing, I'm not very good at much of anything. I figured we were all going to just sleep in a pile of blankets together on the floor." He's mostly teasing, but it's fascinating because Vitale doesn't sound opposed to that.
JP offered objectivly, "Well puttin my heart back in my chest wit' a cork in it seem much harder t'be honest. but yeah If they can teach me it can' be that hard, yeah? For serious, cavemen figured out how t'do i on their own an' we got better tools and you got me. You smart, yeah? Fancy school an all thatso I take it you good at math too hmm?"
Oh, JP. Vitale frowns hearing that. "We'll help you do that. Elmo says mine is broken and jangling around in my ankles. I'll help you put yours back in your chest if you help me pick mine up off the ground. Though… you have real reason to be hurting. I don't really." Vitale sighs, biting his lower lip and feeling bad about having said anything at all while he tries to keep hold of JP while wetting another paper towel to wipe his face off and then his hands. "I'm good at numbers, not neccessarily because of my private schooling but because my dad put me in charge of counting money when I was little. I told you I'd be the numbers guy for the garage."
JP fussed on being cleaned up when he was mid-work but gave up. He smooched Vitale's forenead and said, "Happens to teh best of us, mona mi. But yeah you can do things wit' numbers it half the problem puttin up a wall. See? You better at this than you realize. We'll help you gettin used to teh work part. Let you borrow some clothes and you be all set."
"I'm only cleaning you so I can feed you without you getting grease all over whatever I try to put in you. Now, I made Severin a very poor excuse for jambalaya once but I could make you somethin' else, make you some /good/ lasagna." Vitale scrunches his nose at being kissed on the forehead but it's all fake. Vitale truly doesn't mind affection in any form, he's starved for it really. "Alright, I'll try not to be awful at it or complain any. You, Elmo and Nate are welcome to hit me if I do."
JP grinned and said "Hit you? AW nah. There will be reprisal. An when you stop laughin, you know." He grinned ear to ear in that easy wonderful way that looked at the world as a pinyata of opportunity that just needed to be beat on a bbunch for funsies and valuable prizes. "Actually I ain't had you lasagna. I got some real pans now too! You welcome to borrow em. See what we got, what we need. Brooklyn ain' too far so we need t' go shoppin I can drive us out."
Vitale looks thrilled, his eyes light up and everything at the prospect of showing JP a real lasagna. He nearly forgets to have a broken heart. "Okay! Yeah. We might need to go get the real mozzerella. Oh, I can't wait to cook for you JP, a real good, authentic, Italian lasagna? That'll heal anythin' you got wrong with you." Vitale reaches for JP's hand to tug him into the kitchen. "You can help me too, I know you love to cook."
JP was excited too. Shit, food! "Is it made with carbs? I heard about them this last thing I ate. Put some of them in there. I think they make bread and stuff taste better. I didn' find none at the market but I figure if anyone know? It is you Italians." Wise man. Very wise let him show you how.