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JP woke up from what might have been the deepest sleep he didn't mean to indulge in years. There was a crease up one side of his face as he peeled his head off the arm of that stuffed chair that he stole (Aww, chair, yes). He smacked his chops a couple times before a cavernous yawn followed. "No on doodled on me did they? I'll shiv em."
Elmo is…surprisingly…here, and not downstairs, or at his workshop. He's….surprisingly… not dressed, wearing sleep pants and a t-shirt, curled up on the couch. Less surprisingly, he's reading a library-bound book named _A Wrinkle In Time_. There's a stack of similarly bound books next to the couch. He glances up, with a fond little smile. "Look who's joining the land of the livin'."
JP pulled the blanket up over his head with a groan, "Noooon! Non, je refuse. Tu ne peux pas me forcer" It doens't matter what that was that was a protest channeling all the might of a 5 year old. He was right about the blanket though. It would either cover his head, or his feet but not both. "This why people can' sleep at night."
Elmo laughs soft, under his breath. "Mmkay, go back to sleep then." Apparently he has plenty to keep him busy, that pile of books is two feet high. He normally never has so much reading material. "Could get in bed if ya want. Less seams on ya face that way." Elmo taps his own cheek where JP's seam impression is.
JP thought about it and wrinkled his nose. A rough hand rubbed his face with another yawn. "Yeah but you out here so tha' jes be more effort yellin an then I jes wake up anyways." At least he had all that figured out. He pulled his bare feet in with a curl of toes. "So glad we stole this chair… oh, hey speakin of shit one shouldn't do on someone else' property? I talked t'Jeb. He gonna bring you a beer. We all gonna shake on it. We hashed some shit out. It ain't happenen again. We coo'?" which was JP speak for, we're going to forgive him and if there's an issue in the future it's gettin taken up by me. End quote.
Elmo grunts, looking back at his book. It takes him a minute. "I…I just thought me 'n him were gettin' along pretty good. Taught him how to use a slide rule. Told him, he ain't stupid, he just don't know nothin', there's a difference." He shrugs, turns a page. "Ain't my nose he hurt worst, layin' into me like that." Something he'd only ever confess to JP, that Jeb punched him in his emotions too. As much as Elmo likes to pretend he's salty and tough, everybody who knows him knows he's not.
JP rubbed his eye withthe heel of his hand geting the sleep out of it but nodded for Elmo to go on. "THere… some stuff happenin there. He jes ain' handlin it well. I tol em he need t'use his words or be very careful who he throwin fists at. He also know that bringin war up into our block only beget a war he can' no win, but if he got a problem he welcom to bring it to me an I' suss it out or, ya know, jes talk. Merde He remind me a' me that age, mon dieu. All fists no facts man… He feel bad tho. He hurtin case his brothers is gone a bit and his head ain' makin a lot of sense."
Elmo pulls a face. "Yeah. Poor dumb kid. Ain't the first time he slugged me. I said somethin' not too bright to him and he popped me for it." Almost amused. "Just…didn't do nothin' to deserve it this time." He heaves in a sigh. "Okay. I don't really wanna ditch him permanent. Kinda like the little jerk. You gonna be there, boss?"
JP mumbled from under his blanket, "I'm a mediate it." Yes. Old school street style. It came with runninga cell block as long as he did. You set hte terms and conditions and make people respect them and use a mediator if they can't. It keeps the situation from getting lawless and people shanked. "I like the guy. He got heart. Decent flirt too." Oh great gravy. "We're gonna sort it out, he gonna come by on work hours to fix up some furniture I' pay em t' do and we be groovy. Right?"
Surprised, Elmo half coughs, half laughs. "Yeah he said somethin' about how he wants to take you to bed. Then he said he was kiddin', but he wasn't. Look, if ya do, just go easy on him, okay?" It's not physically easy Elmo means, it's the rest of it. "He's fragile. And I don't want Jay mad at me." He's had his own vision of a future where JP and Jeb sleep together, and most of the probability branches end with Elmo getting yelled at and/or punched by somebody. Putting his book open face-down on the couch, like a savage, he stretches, rolling his shoulders back. "Right. We'll be groovy."
JP shook his head and chuckled, "Shit, I gave em a down payment." He usually didn't talk about shit, but eh, not much to tell. "I tol em 80 f'the furniture. He said he knock twenty off f' a kiss. Dunno if he jokin or not or pressin his luck but like I gon' spend twenty buck I don' have to?" Puh-leeeeease! "I was like well shit yeah, so I did. He almost pass out on me. It was adorable." No ridicule, just amusement. He stretched and seemed confused, "Why's I suppose t'sleep with em now?" He missed a memo. He pointed and nodded, "Yes, jes be groovy."
"You're not!" Elmo says, slightly alarmed. "You're not, just—just forget it." Apparently the chain of consequences is a little too complex for JP to follow right now. Pressing back into the couch, he can't help but smile. Jeb getting the hell kissed out of him by JP? "Kinda wish I coulda seen that, musta been adorable. Yeah, he's a sweet kid. Mostly. Kinda has too much of Sam's methods of problem-solving." He rubs his nose, checking to make sure it's still there in all its original glory. "I'll be groovy, boss. Promise."
JP grinned tiredly with amusement watching Elmo and still had no idea what was going on. "Shit I could show you. He an' m'brother Louie soun' a lot like that. Real big mouth older brothers tha' get a lot of attention and he get 'and brother'd' a lot. He away from home and got nothin really that his. He' brothe was here but Sammy' off who knows where helpin orpheaned children an hittin on nuns or somethin. But he a bit of a mess like me when Sev wen' south an' I was here all by mon self, oui?"
Elmo thinks about it, looking at JP, musing. Really pretty relaxed, all told. "I guess I don't know how that is, so much. My sisters are a lot older'n me. I got way too much attention from my folks, way I saw it." Of course he did; Elmo's ideas of a good time tend to include 'alone in my workshop not having to look anybody in the eye'. Parents doting on their only son must have driven him batty. "Yeah, you were in rough shape. I hadda move in on top of you to keep you together." He's teasing a little, affectionately. "Now you're the loud mouth older brother to the entire block. So ya think that's why Jeb got all punchy?" Considering it, Elmo hmfs. "Mmkay."
JP napped in the chair. Did he fit great in the chair?? No, but considering he used to live out of his car? Not terrible at all. Plus he and Vitale stole that chair fair and square and he was going to make it absolutely worth the effort. Hischairnow.
Vitale finds JP in the chair instead of in his bed, napping in what looks like quite the uncomfortable position. He smiles and runs back to the bedroom quickly and quietly to grab a pillow because nothing says friendship quite like smacking your pal in the face with a pillow while he's trying to sleep. He places the ledger on the nearest table and then comes over, rears back with that pillow and gives JP a good hard smack with it, but it is a pillow so it can't cause that much damage but it'll be a rude awakening for sure. "Wake up, sleepy head!" Vitale says, happy-go-lucky.
|ROLL| JP +rolls 1d20 for: 3
JP was biffed awake sending JP reeling and coming up out of a dead sleep swinging. Oh, boy, he did punch that pillow back though scrambling backward. By backward we mean a while foot before he was out of the chair and dropped on his ass, blanket in a tangle. He shook his head looing up to Vitale with a dry, "Bonjour t'you too. Tres bon…" He nodded approval and defeat glancing around, "Tres bon. What 'chu hittin me awake for?"
Vitale raises his hands in a surrendering motion when JP punches the pillow away from him. "God damn, JP, I didn't mean to scare you so bad. Maybe scare you a little, but hell." Vitale says, backing up a step. "Just me. I think that I figured out what that ledger is and well, you were a sitting duck primed and ready for harassment."
JP squint and looked everywhere but at Vitale, "I ain't scared." now… that hte threat is gone. There we go, there's that street face. Deep breath. Okay chill can resume. He sniffed and rubbed the side of his nose murmuring, "I ain' scared." He paused and looked up confused, "Everythin ok? Ther food?"
Vitale waits a minute while JP's heart rate slows and then moves over to pull JP into a hug. "It's just me. And it's okay to be scared, JP." He says, softer this time, less teasing when he realizes that JP was actually startled badly. "I fixed a lasagna if you want some, there's always food." When Vitale and JP touch, JP's pulse will slow to Vitale's own if it's still beating hard.
JP laughed and gave Vitale a hug with one arm back. "Hey, ya grow up fightin ya get jostled the first thing ya do is protect ya balls, you kidneys, an' you face, lemme tell you." However Vitale said Lasagna and that brought his attention around, "You made the square noodly thing?" Aroo!? Well if Vitale's ability didn't make everything right as rain the carbs did. "I ain' scared, but I am hungry. Smells damn good. You make enough fo' Nate too cause I think he comin back in a bit."
"Made enough to feed all you savages, yeah. Square noodley thing," Vitale repeats it, shaking his head. "That's like me just callin' gumbo 'spicy soup'. It's a lasagna." Fucking Vitale even pulls back and gives that hand gesture that will forever be associated with speaking Italian to repeat the word, fingers all pushed together as he shakes them. "I think the ledger you found might be for movin' weapons."
JP laughed with a grin, "Really spicy soup. Is all it is."Those dark brown eyes danced with amusement watching Vitale gesticulate, "Oui oui, lasa'na. Happy?" He hopped up to his feet and poked around to the kitchen and the lasagna and a plate. A hand brushed his chest off thoughtfully with a wry grin, "Weapons? WHooooo I do love me some dangerous ladies. Well, then we may have t'go ask some lovely ladies out and see if they in'erested."