John Young | The Tomorrow People (isnotyourson) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2020-09-15 16:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | !completed gdoc, !log, jedikiah price (contradictions), ~2020 september, ~~john young (isnotyourson) |
WHO: John Young and Jedikiah Price
WHAT: A meeting
WHEN: Recently
WHERE: At Walgreens
WARNINGS: Nah
STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
John still wasn’t totally okay with Jedikiah being here. He didn’t know if he ever would be. After what had been done to him and after what he’d seen Jedikiah do...well, he didn’t know if he could ever be friendly with the guy. But he had come to see that he was trying, and he had gone so far as to not warn every supernatural and tell them what a terrible guy Jedikiah was. It was a step in living and let living, and as long as Jedikiah didn’t come after anybody, he didn’t see why things couldn’t keep going in that direction.
He was still awkward when he met with him in person, though, and today was no different. When he came around a corner at Walgreens and saw him standing there, his first thought was to teleport away. But no, he wouldn’t do that. He’d face him like a man.
“Jedikiah,” he nodded in greeting.
***
There were still times that Jedikiah couldn’t believe the life he now had. He had a relationship more solid than he could’ve ever imagined, he had a job that he’d forgotten how much he loved doing, and he had friends who didn’t care what he’d done in the past. Or rather, friends that cared but were more concerned with being there for him so he didn’t fall apart and get stupid.
And there was the fact that he and John were speaking again. No, they weren’t any kind of family. No, they weren’t friends. Hell, he was fully aware that John would never forgive him for some things. As much as it hurt, the young man’s feelings weren’t unwarranted. But they were at the point where they could be civil when they spoke to each other, which was more than he’d ever thought he would get.
“Hello, John,” he returned. “How’ve you been?”
Well, at least they were both awkward.
***
“Good, actually,” he said. He was seriously trying not to be completely negative even though there were parts of him that wanted to be. After all, his feelings towards Jedikiah were mostly negative, even still. “I can be me here. I can talk to people and they can see my powers without you killing them. I don’t have to hide in the sewers. It’s nice not to be hunted.”
He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets awkwardly.
“I have a girlfriend, too. This place is all kinds of better than home.”
Maybe Jedikiah didn’t think so, because life was always better for the hunter than the hunted, but John definitely did.
***
“It is,” Jedikiah agreed with a slight nod. “It’s… I’m not going to give the tired old ‘second chance’ line, but… a chance for some people to figure themselves out. Granted, some of us need to do a little more of that than others, but even so.” A wry smile accompanied the words -- he’d freely and readily admit he was more on one end of that than the other.
“How is Jo, by the way?” He hadn’t planned on asking after John’s girlfriend, but conversation had naturally given him an opportunity, so he figured it was alright.
He’d find out.
***
John seemed to close up for a moment, his eyes hardening. He couldn’t remember if he’d told Jedikiah about Jo or if he had found that out on his own, but either way, he wasn’t completely comfortable with him knowing. He forced himself to unclench his jaw and nodded.
“She’s good.”
He didn’t say another word after that. He hoped Jedikiah would get the idea that people he loved were not for him to speak about. Not yet.
***
“Good,” Jedikiah said, moving right along. “I’m glad.” Because he wasn’t going to just take a hard right on changing the subject -- that would just make the both of them even more uncomfortable than finishing the thought and moving on would.
Of course, that was also right about where he ran out of things to say without sounding like more of an idiot than he wanted, which in turn meant that there was a second of hesitation before his mind settled on something.
“So, what’ve you been up to?” he asked. “In general, I mean.” Because he wasn’t going to ask anything too deep -- not that John would really answer it anyway if he did -- but he still needed to ask something. He still cared about John, even if the feelings on both sides were complicated and not something to talk about.
***
“Not much. You know, just living life. Learning to cook. I’ve found it’s something I enjoy doing.” And Jo seemed to enjoy eating it as well, which made it all the better. “It’s strange, everyone here kind of looks at me like I’m normal. Unless I almost teleport on top of them or something.”
Which he’d done a while back. That had been embarrassing.
“What about you?”
***
“Not much, actually,” Jedikiah said with a shrug. “My life basically consists of work, being a pain in the ass to the few friends I’ve got, and spending time with Vanya.”
He couldn’t help smiling a little as he said her name. Jedikiah was kind of ridiculous like that when it came to Vanya. He loved her, something he’d never thought he’d be able to say about anyone again after Morgan. Meeting Vanya had given him a chance to start changing, to be someone better than who he’d been.
***
“Vanya,” he said slowly. He didn’t know her well, but he’d seen her over the internet. “What is it with you and women with powers? I mean…” He trailed off, waving a hand. It just didn’t make sense to him. He spent his life killing people with powers but he still wanted to date them? To love them? But he wasn’t going to go there.
“I’m glad you’re happy,” he said, instead.
***
“I like to think of it as the universe making sure I have someone who can kick my ass into next century if I screw things up.” Jedikiah smiled wryly. “Because between Vanya and a couple of my friends, I’m pretty sure we’re set on that score.”
Because really. Vanya, Kitty, Rogue. Any one of them could easily take him out and he was absolutely aware of it.
“Thank you,” he said at John’s next words. “I mean it.”
He knew it hadn’t been easy for the young man to say those words, which meant he appreciated them even more.
***
John nodded, then looked down at his feet during the awkward silence that followed. He had no idea what else to say and he really didn’t want to say anything that would turn this brief but civil interaction into something else.
“Um,” he said slowly. “So. I guess I’ll see you around?”
***
Jedikiah considered every civil conversation they had to be a success, and this one had been a little better than usual. Every bit of progress was still progress and he had no desire to ruin that in any way.
“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “I’ll see you around.”
He was grateful to see John doing so well and that was the most important thing.