Jackson (jax_london) wrote in carpediem_rp, @ 2015-08-21 07:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: adrian battye, character: jackson london, thread: complete |
Who: Jackson and Adrian
Where: Smith House
When: Friday 21 August, morning (packing for the Quidditch weekend)
Warning: None
Status: Closed, Complete
Adrian stared at his closet and considered what he needed. It was only a weekend. But he was throwing a party for anyone in the area, there was a Quidditch match. And his actual birth mother, Wallace, had requested lunch before the game so that he could meet her newest sugar daddy. Adrian sighed at that thought. It wasn't the right language. He needed to shift his mentality. This man might actually be 'the one'. And he was glad that she wanted him to meet this man. It meant something that she'd thought it was important for Adrian to know him. It meant she was serious about the relationship - both with this man but also with Adrian.
"You don't have to watch me pack, Jackson if you have somewhere you'd rather be." Adrian pointed out to his friend. Jackson had been with R for the previous week, and honestly Adrian hadn't expected to see him before the Quidditch tournament, yet here he was.
Jackson had already packed up his own things - it didn't really take long - and so heading to Adrian's seemed the right thing to do. He was going with his friend to the cup, and while R was having a hard time he knew they all were heading to the same place. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head at his friend's words.
"I get to pick where I am. Here's that choice now." Jackson flopped back onto the bed and sighed. "So, what's going on with you? Anything interesting this week since I've been wandering?" And sober all week to monitor R. It was odd, but he was quietly ignoring any thoughts that rose into his head.
Adrian lifted his glasses to rub at his eyes, but only answered, "No, nothing interesting." He said, choosing to answer the last question only. The first question was more loaded than Jackson realized. Adrian knew that his friend was only somewhat functional most of the time - and had been taking care of R all week. He did not really want to burden him with his own issues. Besides, it wasn't like Adrian's current reason for being unsettled was really anything out of the ordinary for him.
"But something." Jackson had known Adrian too long to not realize that an ignoring of a question often meant something just as much as an answer did. He ran a hand through his hair again and stretched out on the bed more thoroughly, his legs hanging off the end. "So, then. What's up?" Because Adrian talking, much like R having issues at home, would keep him distracted as much as getting trashed would.
"The usual," Adrian admitted after a moment, turning to see Jackson sprawled on his bed. It was a good sign to him at least when Jackson was making himself at home. Still he worried about his friend. He would try one more attempt at redirection. "Is R doing better? Can we expect him this weekend?"
"Oh?" Jackson raised an eyebrow at his friend, pushing himself up on his elbows. "R is okay. I can't imagine he'd miss the weekend unless he really had to." Slightly vague but it was true. If things got worse R would stay home. "So. The usual." Diverting back to Adrian's words. He was not drunk and he didn't want to think about things. Listening to Adrian was a lot easier.
"You're easier when you're drunk." Adrian pointed out (with a shoe). "So then since you're sober and feeling helpful… what exactly am I supposed to wear to lunch with Wallace and the new rich boyfriend she wants me to meet that won't make Sissy suspicious?" His question admitted as much as anything about what was bothering him.
"Probably." Jackson shrugged and smirked. "Your sister's little friend probably agrees. But anyway. Go dressy casual? White shirt, tie, jeans." He smirked again. "You're usually not incredibly casual anyway so it won't raise questions, but it will look nice enough that it's implied you made an effort."
"My sister's little friend? You mean Kavi?" Adrian looked at Jackson trying to work out why he was worried about what Kavi thought about him and his sobriety. He didn't think they really knew each other, but then Jackson surprised him often enough. Adrian looked at his closet - which largely reflected exactly Jackson's point about his style in general. "'I can put the tie on after I leave the camp so Sissy won't notice." He loved her and loved how protective of him she was - he felt the same way about her. But she would be just as happy if Wallace dropped dead. "What's sad is Wallace won't even notice anyway." He knew this well enough, but it didn't stop him from putting in the effort.
"That one, yeah." A laugh and he shrugged slightly. "Yeah, Wallace won't but you will. Isn't that why you're doing it?" He raised an eyebrow at his friend and smiled. "Your sister does need to chill back some, I think. Your choice to go to lunch with her." He fixed his eyes on Adrian and offered a half smile. "If you need anything after I'll have a special chocolate stash just for you."
Adrian watched his friend carefully trying to work out what he meant about Kavi, but was at least for a moment distracted discussing his birth mother and sister. "It's easier for her - she can be black and white about it all. And I get why… She's been disappointing me for seventeen years… but Mom's right that I need to have a relationship with her of some kind. I need to know her even if I know I can't depend on her for anything."
Jackson nodded slightly. "Hufflepuff loyalty at its finest." He understood to a degree, he wasn't amazingly fond of how the woman had left his friend so many times, but it wasn't his business exactly to interfere. "Like I said though. Emergency chocolate will be waiting for you when you get back and I'll help you hide the tie and all that if needed."
"She really is a Puff." Adrian agreed. Like Jackson was thoroughly a Gryffindor, although Adrian didn't often call his friend on it - except when they were playing against each other in Quidditch. Adrian put a few things into the bag, and then asked, "Is it stupid that I hope this man she wants me to meet is the one? That's he's not just another in the long line of assholes she has been with?" Narissa would call it karma.
Jackson nodded and then examined his friend, suddenly thoughtful. "I suppose it depends on why you wish it? I mean, if it is to make her settle her life, then no. It's what family does, even if that family isn't close." He leaned back again and shrugged. "It really just means you're a good person, I think. Even though she's made you unhappy in the past you want her to be happy."
Adrian arched his brow as Jackson said he was a good person. Not that he didn't think he was per say, but it was different to hear him say it. Although perhaps not, since he knew Jackson had doubts about whether he himself was a good person or not. "Guess so. It would be nice if she was happy… although she has always seemed happy with her life." Whatever. It was as he'd said at the start of the conversation - the usual. He was an idiot probably to hope it was going to work out.
Jackson nodded. "She's your family even if she isn't there like the people here are. You're always going to have some concern." He laid back entirely and sighed quietly, not wanting to think about his own family even though thoughts of them were pushing into his head. "You don't always show the emotion you really are. Seeming and being. Two different things." This he knew from a good deal of experience.
"There is no need to worry everyone." There was after all a reason he tended to hide how he felt about a lot of things. It was similar to but different from Jackson's reasons. Jackson hid them because he couldn't face them himself and that he was unwanted by himself because of them - Adrian worried he would be unwanted by his family if he faced them. He needed to be the perfect son, to show his appreciation. "Suppose it takes one to know one."
Jackson shrugged. "You're allowed to worry the people that care." He closed his eyes for a moment and brushed a hand back through his hair again. "I'm relatively sure I don't know what you mean though." His eyes opened on those words and he looked at Adrian, a silent attempt to keep the conversation away from things like that.
Adrian was generally sensitive to his friend's need to avoid certain topics. It was largely why they had remained friends after the accident, Adrian thought. "No one wishes to cause others worry." Adrian spoke of both of them in his words. "Some of our classmates would like to cause others pain… but that is different."
"And yet humans naturally worry for those who have earned their trust." He sat up again and shrugged one shoulder. "I think you're human. That's it. You want to be cared for by the people around you. We all do. Nothing wrong with it." He shifted to rest his hand on Adrian's shoulder, glancing at the trunk he was packing. "Go with the blue tie. It'll look best."
Adrian liked being touched - even just in a friendly way. "Matching the eyes?" He tried to wear green more than blue for his house colors, but this weekend everything ought to be red white and blue for the national team colors. "It fits with the weekend at least."
"Yeah, it matches your eyes. Looks good on you." A smile and Jackson looked at the trunk again, pointing at a shirt. "That shirt. A pair of nice fitted jeans. Obviously shirt untucked." Because he knew what looked good even if he rarely did much with dressing up outside of for playing at the gallery or at recitals.
"I don't do the sexy disheveled look like you do." Adrian said. The very idea of leaving a button-down shirt untucked. T-shirts or polos, absolutely but if he was wearing a tie, that meant the shirt had to be properly tucked. "That is your thing."
“Jeans. You cannot tuck your shirt into jeans.” Jackson raised an eyebrow slightly and smirked. “Do you want to look like a fashion train wreck? Your sister would be ashamed.” A laugh and he again patted Adrian’s shoulder, doing his best to make sure the other boy was at ease as much as he could be.
"Was thinking of khakis." Adrian admitted. "Dressier… the meeting will probably be at somewhere posh knowing Wallace. With an open bar." Adrian couldn't count on his birth mother for much, but he'd learned to count on her alcoholism. He just accepted it as part of her - rather like he did for Jackson. He would never dream of preaching to either of them about it.
"I guess that could work." Jackson nodded a bit. He would have gone with jeans to make it more casual, but Adrian tended to dress up more on a regular basis. Jackson had grown used to that. "Either way you'll look good, I'm sure. I just figured the slight casual touch to display less obvious concern."
"We're starting to sound stereotypical gay… My fault probably." Adrian admitted. That was another conversation he hadn't had with his parents either, although he wasn't worried they'd throw him out over it, and he hadn't exactly hidden his boyfriends or girlfriends from his parents... he just hadn't specifically come out to them as bisexual either. For Jackson it wasn't an issue because he was hiding from his family. Adrian had been tempted to write them and tell them their son was okay and alive, but he wasn't really sure how to use muggle post enough to be confident of success.
Jackson laughed and nodded. "Totally your fault. Nothing to do with the fact that we're both deep into the art world or anything." Not that that meant a lot, honestly. It just gave them both more exposure to both straight and gay males - and a taste for style in many cases. He shrugged one shoulder as he looked over Adrian's clothing choices and then to the other boy. "Not to my taste but then I've never been into khakis."
"That's another good excuse," Adrian agreed. "Perhaps a better one." Since they were both often surrounded by individuals focused on the overall effect of image. Some of whom were all style and no substance, and all too eager to share their opinions. There were differences though between his style and Jackson's, as the other boy reminded him. "You need jeans and other durable fabrics for when you don't find a couch to sleep on."
"True, true." Because sleeping outside was a lot harder on clothes than changing and sleeping in a bed. "I still look good enough for you to keep me around." A teasing note to his voice in that, because he knew Adrian enjoyed his company, and looks didn't mean anything there.
"Only a few people know me," Adrian let his usual distance slip for just a moment, revealing himself to Jackson. The implication - Jackson was one of those few people. Jackson had too many of his own problems to do much with Adrian's issues. It was their respect for each other that they knew but let the other reveal when necessary without prodding or trying to fix the other person. Simple acceptance. Still Adrian didn't want to stay serious, and sought something to play to Jackson's teasing tone. "And you're reasonably cute… apparently. When you're clean."
"Mutual." Jackson acknowledged the small slipping in the walls with one of his own, offering a smile to his friend. He didn't see any sense in forcing acknowledgement of issues when it wasn't necessary. "Yeah. Apparently people look. Whatever." Jackson waved dismissively. He didn't care that much about how he looked. It was good enough for him to get by. What people thought had never been huge for him.
"Look but don't smell," Adrian said, maintaining the banter and letting the serious mood settle. He had packed enough - he could worry about Wallace and her boyfriend when they got to the meeting. "Although obviously you kept up with the cleaning at R's." Adrian was glad though that between them they'd kept Jackson safely housed for two weeks. If they could find ways to keep him between their houses for the rest of the month, Adrian would count it a win.