Jasper Lucas (sinsoftheson) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2020-09-21 12:30:00 |
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Entry tags: | #may 2018, jasper, jasper x logan, logan |
Who: Logan and Jasper
When: late afternoon, Sunday, May 20th
Where: Logan’s house
Status: complete
The first thing Jasper became aware of was the smell of the air around him. His brow furrowed in his sleep, the overpowering floral scent almost burning his nostrils. It made his stomach churn a little, but there was still something so strangely familiar about it. He gasped in a deeper breath, his eyes rolling open as a strange tremor ran through his body. At first he couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing, strange criss-crossing lines of different colors ... then his head turned like a spasm and he took in more of his surroundings. Slower than he should have, he determined that he was on a floor. Carpet stretched out to his left, and what he’d first seen was the fabric of a couch directly to his right. Jasper was flat on his back in the middle of what looked like a living room, only it was all wrong somehow. Putting his finger on how seemed extremely difficult for some reason.
Jasper laid there for a long couple of moments, just trying to wrap his brain around what he was seeing. It was too bright, for one, and too ... clean. Unnaturally so, enough that it looked fake to his eyes. Like he was dreaming. Or maybe like he was dead. It hit him all at once that he was in a completely unfamiliar place that looked nothing like anything he could remember, and he had no idea how or why. Or when, or even who, now that he was trying to think about it. He realized he couldn’t remember his own name, just that he shouldn’t be where he was.
His heart starting to pound in his chest, Jasper pushed himself up to sitting, his eyes going a little wide and wild as he looked around. Everything on him itched and he was suddenly starving. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten, but at the moment he couldn’t remember much of anything. It was more than a little frightening. Swallowing around a tongue that felt like sandpaper, he grabbed hold of the couch and started to pull himself to his feet. Jasper stumbled, his knees shaky and unsteady, and crashed into the coffee table, wincing at the noise it made.
Logan was in the kitchen putting together something edible to eat for lunch when he heard the crash in the living room. Given his mom had gone to work hours ago, and they had no pets, Logan immediately froze, a bottle of mustard in his hand. He was trying to decide whether or not to grab a knife, or just take his chances with his fists. How had he not heard someone break in? Then again, maybe it wasn't a person. Maybe one of the hanging photos or paintings downstairs fell off the wall. That was... more logical thinking.
Exhaling, Logan set the mustard down on the counter and headed toward the stairs leading down into the living room. He was on the second stair when he realized someone was in his house. A dirty looking guy with a scraggly beard and wide, confused eyes. Holy shit, some homeless dude got into their house. Logan was about to bark at him to stay exactly where he was but something clicked in his brain, something that recognized the face. "Jasper?" Was he dreaming? Hallucinating, maybe? It looked like Jasper, even under the filth and hair. "Holy shit... is that you?"
He’d heard someone coming on the stairs and gotten into a half-crouch, his hands frozen in the air as he’d been reaching for the overturned stuff on the coffee table. Jasper stared at the guy who appeared with zero recognition, his heart trying to beat its way out of his chest. There was a moment of total stillness, then Jasper grabbed for the heaviest-looking thing on the coffee table -- a candle holder that was painted to look like metal but had the weight and feel of ceramic when he snatched it up. Oh well, too late now. He brandished it as he tried to stay low, wild blue eyes darting around for an exit. “Wh-where is this?” he demanded, his voice higher and more scared than he wanted it to be. “How’d I -- what the fuck is going on?”
"Woah." Logan lifted both of his hands. He wasn't too scared of getting hit by his mom's knick knacks but... he didn't really want to get hit by anything. And Jasper looked a little crazy and out of it. His own heart was beating wildly in his chest because Jasper was in his living room. How the hell had that happened? "It's Logan." He placed one of his hands on his chest, the other still held up in surrender. "I don't know what's going on. You've been gone for... months, man. You know I'm not going to hurt you. Just take a breath."
The guy -- whose house he was currently in? Or was this his house? Nothing looked familiar -- was talking to him like he knew him, and Jasper didn’t know what to do with that. Gone for months? His expression was distressed as he tried to process everything. Did he know the name Logan? Did he even know his own name? Jasper couldn’t call it up, no matter how hard he tried in that moment. Logan had said something that sounded like a name right off the bat, but he couldn’t remember what it had been now, he was too scared. “How do you know me?” he asked, readjusting his grip on the probably-useless piece of ceramic. “Where am I?”
Logan stared, his lips working for an answer though no sound emitted from them. Jasper didn't know who he was? Shit. Was it amnesia? Maybe his mind was just getting reoriented to his surroundings. If he had been in some other world like Jules said, then... showing up back here might have fucked him up further. But how the hell had he ended up in Logan's house? Those were all questions for later. Right now he just had to calm Jasper down a bit. "You're in Point Pleasant," Logan explained, keeping his hands up just so Jasper would know he meant no harm. "You were born here. We're friends. You're Jasper Lucas. You went missing a few months ago. Well, not missing... you got sucked into some... portal? Doorway? I don't know. She explained it to me but it all sounded like horror sci-fi in my head." Logan forced himself to stop and take a breath. "You don't remember anything?"
None of that rang any bells until Logan got to the portal doorway part. Then Jasper’s breath caught as the memory of intense fear flooded his system. There weren’t many images that came with it, just the horrible feeling of being betrayed and fucked over and afraid, and then running for his life. His limbs felt weak again and he slowly sat down on the couch, the pseudo-weapon in his hand lowering to the cushion. Point Pleasant, Jasper Lucas, missing for months ... those things didn’t feel real, but the portal was somewhere in his head. Along with bits and pieces of a place much dirtier than this one, with rot and fungus everywhere and air that wasn’t nearly this clear. He looked down at himself for the first real time and saw how filthy he was compared to everything else, his clothes tattered and stained and his skin darkened with dirt. His fingernails were long and black underneath, and Jasper’s head was starting to ache. “I don’t ... remember this,” he muttered. “Some, from before, but ... not this.” He tossed a wary look around again.
Fuuuuck. Logan continued down the steps cautiously, making sure to give Jasper plenty of distance. What was he supposed to do? Call Jasper's dad? He didn't know his number. Maybe Jules would. Fuck. Swallowing, Logan moved over to sit in the chair near the couch. "It'll come back to you," Logan said, sounding more confident than he felt. Jasper looked terrible but Logan couldn't help the happy thrill he was feeling that his best friend was back and alive. He was having memory trouble, that was all. "I can't believe you're here," he murmured, unable to help the smile that formed on his lips. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again, man. Do you... are you all right? Are you hungry? Do you want to take a shower? Anything you need, J."
Real smiles weren’t something Jasper had seen in a long time, and the one on Logan’s face both made him wary and heart-achey at the same time. Like he wanted to believe this was real, but it was too hard to accept yet. Maybe he’d gone really crazy and he was still where he’d been, or ... maybe he really was in the living room of this friend he couldn’t remember. Logan called him ‘J’ and that was easier to latch onto than his full name, so Jasper clung to that letter as his identity. He was J, this guy was Logan. Those were two simple things to start with. He barely recalled what a shower was, and while he needed one of those desperately, the question about him being hungry suddenly took priority. Because he was starving all of the sudden, like the very thought kicked those instincts back into gear. “Food, I’d, uh ... I’m really hungry,” he admitted, still watching Logan with an unsure look in his eyes. “And water. Please.”
Logan nodded, well aware that hugging Jasper probably wouldn't go over well despite his intense urge to do so anyway. "All right, yeah. I've got food and water. Uh, you can come with me to the kitchen, or if you want to stay here, that's fine too. Just be careful with that." He grinned, motioning to the ceramic candlestick in Jasper's hand. "That's my mom's and she'll probably get pissy with me if she comes home and finds it broken." He turned to head back up the short flight of stairs to the kitchen. He had been making himself a sandwich but he could make a few more. Who knew when Jasper ate last. And holy shit, Jasper was back. He wanted to text Jules and find Jasper's dad and sister and just... holy shit. His hands were shaking as he got to making the sandwiches, a thousand questions rushing through his head.
Jasper stayed put at first, but as soon as Logan was out of sight he got the intense urge not to be alone, so he got up. After setting the candle holder -- now smudged with his dirty fingerprints -- back down on the coffee table, he cautiously followed Logan. The structure of the house itself was a little familiar, like the walls and floors and ceiling and counters were where they were supposed to be, but it was all so different. There were colors everywhere, so many more things scattered around than he was used to. Jasper found a spot to stand that seemed to be out of the way, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides in a nervous sort of way. There was so much to look at, and it was so bright in there, and Logan looked so clean and it all smelled so different. “Is -- is anybody else here?” he asked Logan in a whisper.
Jasper's voice startled him a bit. Logan had been so lost in his thoughts and happiness that he hadn't heard Jasper follow him. Huffing out a soft laugh, Logan shook his head as he went back to compiling the sandwiches. "No. I mean, not here, in the house. Mom's at work. I'm supposed to work tonight but I'm going to call in sick here in a few minutes." After slathering some mustard on a piece of bread, Logan set the knife aside and picked up a plate to offer out to Jasper. "Were you with other people? I mean, do you remember anything about where you've been?" Maybe he wouldn't want to talk about it now, which was fine with Logan. But his curiosity couldn't wait for Jasper to start talking about it on his own. His friend looked like he was still trying to come to terms with where he was.
He tried not to snatch the plate, his stomach twisting painfully, but Jasper couldn’t help it. He hunched over the plate a bit as he started to stuff the sandwich into his mouth, unmindful of his filthy fingers. Jasper technically heard Logan’s questions, but he couldn’t respond just yet, all of his being focused on wolfing down the food he’d been given. It was just a ham sandwich, simple fare, but it tasted like the most delicious gourmet meal he could imagine. Which wasn’t saying much at the moment, but god it felt fucking good to eat. A few waves of queasiness passed over him as his neglected body was shocked by the presence of food, but Jasper didn’t stop until the whole sandwich was gone. Still chewing, he gave a hopeful look to the sandwich makings that were still on the counter.
Watching Jasper stuff his face like a man starved was... an experience. Jasper didn't appear super thin or anything, but Logan had no idea what that other place had been like. He nearly warned Jasper that he was going to make himself puke eating like that, but before he could even find the words, the sandwich was gone. Logan's brows rose at the look on his friend's face and with a soft laugh, he started making Jasper another sandwich. "There are glasses in the cabinet." It took him a second to remember Jasper didn't seem to remember his house, so he gestured towards the right one with the knife in his hand. "You can get some water, if you want. Just don't drink it down the way you ate that sandwich or you might barf all over and I don't want to have to clean that up."
Jasper didn’t want to barf either, and he thought he could eat the rest a little slower. He opened the cabinet that Logan pointed to and took down one of the glasses. He had to marvel at it for a moment -- it was so clean and clear, he could see right through it. Everything was distorted, but it was kind of incredible for a moment. Then Jasper went to the sink to fill it up. The rush of water when he nudged the lever startled him a little, but he quickly filled the glass and lifted it to his lips. He tried not to drink it fast like Logan suggested, but as soon as it touched his tongue it tasted like the most beautiful thing in the universe. Jasper stopped and turned the water off, catching his breath for a moment and staring out the window. There was no fog in sight. It was a sunny day and there was green grass and a blue sky with fluffy clouds and it all looked like some crazy fever-dream to Jasper. “It’s so bright here,” he whispered. He blinked and recalled the questions Logan had asked him, and looked over at him again. “There were others. It’s all ... it’s all hard to remember though. Just bits and pieces. How long did you say ...? I’ve uh, been gone?”
Logan let Jasper be, though he kept glancing at his friend as he made another sandwich. He really wanted to reach out and touch the guy. Logan didn't care how filthy Jasper was, he just wanted to make sure Jasper was real and this wasn't some wishful dream he was having. Fuck, it was so good just to hear his voice. "You went missing in January," Logan explained. "Though I guess you weren't really missing... not technically. We knew what had happened... but... it's May now. May 20th. So... almost four months?" He wondered if the others were back too. If they all just appeared in various houses like Jasper had. Although his best friend showing up in his house, of all places, seemed like more than a coincidence. Logan turned and offered out the fresh sandwich.
Four months. Four months away from the place he presumably belonged, this place, with its blue sky and clear air and sandwiches and water that came right out of the tap. He couldn’t even remember any water where he’d come from, and everything had been so gray and ... thick, somehow. It was hard to wrap his head around. Turning away from the window, he took the second sandwich and started to eat it much more slowly this time. Questions were starting to form in Jasper’s head too -- did he have a family? What had happened to him? Had people been looking? How had he just woken up inside Logan’s house? He knew Logan probably didn’t have some of those answers, and Jasper wasn’t really sure where to start. He got most of the way through the sandwich, chewing thoughtfully, then glanced down and saw the black marks his fingers were making on the bread. Jasper’s stomach rolled again and he set the remainder down on the plate and put it on the counter. He stared at it for a beat, then met Logan’s gaze again. “Can I take a shower?” he asked softly. It felt strange to know what that meant but not remember ever taking one personally. He wanted to be clean like Logan though. Maybe then he would stop itching.
He couldn't stop watching Jasper. Just the way he ate, and the ways his eyes darted around the kitchen. Amnesia was a weird fucking thing. Amnesia and obvious trauma. Jasper might even need a doctor though Logan couldn't see any obvious injuries. Jasper's question prompted Logan to refocus. "Yeah, of course you can. Come on, I'll show you the bathroom. I've got some clean clothes you can wear too. We'll fuckin'... burn whatever it is you're wearing right now, if you want. Or at least toss them out." He motioned for Jasper to follow him upstairs, his heart starting to beat a bit faster again. "Do you, uh, want me to call your dad? Or Jules... er, your... uh... I guess maybe your dad, first." He could have just done it, but he supposed it felt right to ask, to make sure Jasper would want him to. His memory was still fucked, after all. Logan felt out of sorts all of the sudden, like he had no idea what he ought to do.
Well that answered a bit of the family question, didn’t it? “No, don’t,” Jasper said quickly as he moved to follow Logan. That probably sounded awful, didn’t it? He just didn’t think he could deal with any family yet. He didn’t know them, didn’t know who Jules was ... hell, he didn’t even really know who Logan was, but he hadn’t gotten a choice on that one. “Not yet, please,” he corrected himself in a murmur. “I just ... I just need some time before like, meeting people.” If he’d been missing for four months, he was sure they would be beside themselves with relief and all wanting to hug and touch him and ask him questions and Jasper wasn’t sure he could handle that yet. He just wanted to get clean and let his stomach settle and try to orient himself to what had happened. It was still hard to accept that this wasn’t some fucked up dream or something.
"Okay, no problem." Logan felt a small sliver of relief that Jasper had made that choice for him. He wouldn't keep the news from Jasper's family for long though. His friend needed a shower and maybe to sleep for a while. This memory stuff could just be short term, after all. Hell, he may remember everything and everyone before sunset. If Jasper's memory didn't come back in a day or two, Logan would definitely have to call Mr. Lucas. His fingers were already itching to text a few messages but he would hold off for now. Flipping on the light in the bathroom, Logan motioned to the shower. "Take as long as you want. There are clean towels under the sink. I'll grab some clean clothes for you and put them on my bed. Oh yeah, my room is at the end of the hall there. If you need anything though, just... I'll be in the kitchen, okay?"
“Thanks,” Jasper murmured to Logan, giving him a wide berth as he left the bathroom. Logan might have known him well, but he was overly aware of how filthy he was and how much he didn’t know Logan in return. He didn’t know anyone, not even himself, and that was rather terrifying, but fear felt almost comfortably familiar to him. This place at least seemed to be quieter and easier than where he’d come from. Jasper shut the door behind Logan and stared around the bathroom for a few moments before he moved to get a towel and put it within reach of the shower. He very slowly stripped his clothes off, watching flakes of caked-on dirt fall to the tile floor. He would try to clean it up before he left the room. Jasper took awhile just to look at himself in the big bathroom mirror -- he was filthy under his clothes too, but he didn’t see any injuries or sores or anything like that, so that was probably good.
It took him a couple of minutes to figure out how to work the shower, but once he was standing in it under the hot water, Jasper never wanted to leave. He soaked in it for awhile, then started washing. He scrubbed everything twice, hair and beard and face and his body, getting into every crevice as thoroughly as he could, the actions getting almost frantic at a few points. He wanted to be clean, he wanted everything on him to squeak. The bottom of the shower was dirty when he was done, and he stood there staring down at the filth around his feet until the water started to run cold. Jasper got out and slowly dried himself off, realizing that his skin was paler than he’d thought. The reflection in the mirror still didn’t look familiar.
He rummaged around in drawers until he found a pair of scissors. Jasper started with his beard, carefully cutting it down close to the skin. He wanted to shave it all off, but it was too long for just a razor. He didn’t know what he was supposed to look like over here, what Logan remembered him looking like, but he didn’t want a beard now. As he snipped and trimmed, emotion started to choke him up, and Jasper impulsively took a chunk of hair in his hand and cut it off. It was all tangled and damaged anyway, and in spite of two shampoos, he could still see dirt in it. Or at least thought he could. It felt infected, tainted, and he wanted to be clean. Sudden tears blurring his vision, Jasper kept cutting and cutting, chunks of brown locks falling into the sink. What he ended up with was a mess on his head, a bunch of different lengths mixed in with a few bleeding places where he’d nicked his scalp. Most of it was gone though, and it was kind of a relief. If he was going to have to learn himself from scratch, it felt right to have a clean slate on the outside too.
Jasper found Logan’s shaving supplies and took care of the stubble left on his face. He tried to pick as much of his cut hair out of the sink and up off the floor as he could and tucked it into the trash, then went down the hall to Logan’s room to put on the clothes left for him. They were soft and smelled strongly of something sweet as he pulled them onto his body. Detergent? Jasper had forgotten what it smelled like. Everything smelled so strongly here, it seemed. Rubbing his hand over his ruined hair, Jasper padded back down to the kitchen to find Logan. He felt kind of shy as he lingered in the doorway and looked at the other boy. “I couldn’t reach it all,” he murmured, palm still stroking over his hair. “Can ... can you fix it?”
Logan retreated to the kitchen while Jasper was in the shower. He ate his own lunch, drank some water and stared at his cell phone, trying his best to ignore his itchy fingers. He and Jules had become something resembling friends over the past couple of months and it felt wrong not to tell her what was happening. But at the same time, Jasper had been his best friend for years. They had even messed around a bit before Jasper went missing, not that he'd told Jules that. He didn't have a deathwish, after all. In the end he ignored his phone, his loyalty to Jasper still stronger than anything else.
He was putting the dishes in the dishwasher when Jasper showed up again. He had been upstairs for a while, but Logan hadn't minded, or even thought much of it. It was still startling to see the beard gone and the hair. Well, most of the hair. There were some uneven patches, like Jasper had just taken a pair of scissors to it and lopped as much of it off as he could reach. Logan's lips twitched and he shut the dishwasher. His own hair had gotten a bit unruly lately but he hadn't cared much to get it cut. But now he was looking at his friend. Not some dirty, long haired version of him. It made some of the tension in his gut relax and Logan nodded. "Yeah, I can fix it. Come on." He walked past Jasper, motioning for him to follow back upstairs to the bathroom. "Uh, are you okay with shaving it all? I can try and get it even, but I think... you might just want to cut it all off and start over."
Jasper turned to follow him, feeling dumbly grateful that Logan was willing to help him. Taking a pair of clippers to his hair was probably the least he would do, since Jasper thought this was his only option for a place to sleep tonight, but still. It was a personal thing that would require touching, and that felt like a lot to him at the moment. “I want it all gone,” he agreed in a murmur as they walked up the steps. “Buzzed, if you have one of those ... buzzer things.” And if it still looked like shit, he would ask Logan for a hat or something. Not that looking like shit really mattered, he probably looked worlds better already. Jasper just wanted to be comfortable, and at the moment that meant shedding everything he could.
"I've got a buzzer thing," Logan said, amused with the terminology. He stepped inside the bathroom. It still felt a bit steamy from Jasper's shower. The filthy clothes would definitely have to at least go out to the garbage. Logan was sure Jasper had no intention to ever wear those things again. Opening the cabinet on the wall, Logan rummaged around until he found the hair trimmer. "You can sit on the edge of the tub. This should be charged, at least enough to get rid of what's left of your hair. I tried to grow a beard like, a month ago and it just didn't go well. I'm more of a five o'clock shadow kind of guy." He grinned at Jasper. "You smell a hell of a lot better though. You look better too. I like seeing your face again."
Jasper had meant to pick up the clothes but he hadn’t had anything to put them in and didn’t want to wrap them in a clean towel, less they sully it. He definitely didn’t want to see any of that shit again. Watching Logan move around, he perched on the tub’s ledge, slowly rubbing his hands against the soft cloth that now covered his thighs. Jasper quirked a faint smile at Logan’s compliments. “I feel better,” he told him. “I don’t ... I don’t think the beard was on purpose, there was just ... nothing to shave with, over there. Or wash up with. All the water was ... bad.” His recollections were all jumbled and confusing, but he did remember that much for sure. None of the water had been good to wash with or drink.
Logan wondered how much of that water Jasper had ended up drinking. He was alive, so it had to have been a lot. Was that going to make him sick? Maybe his body had gotten used to it. "You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to," Logan said, just so Jasper knew that much. "But if you do, I can listen. I know you don't remember anything right now, at least about this place, so if you have questions, I can try to answer those too. Maybe it'll jog your memory. Or we can just fuck it and not talk at all. Whatever you wanna do, yeah?" He stepped into the tub to stand behind Jasper. At least he could brush the hair into the tub and wash it down the drain. His mom might not like it, but she wasn't there so... oh well. Turning on the trimmer, he began to work on shaving the patchy parts off.
“Okay,” he murmured. It was nice of him to take the pressure off. Jasper had a million and one questions, he just had no idea where to start. He also didn’t really want to talk about where he’d come from, because everything he could remember was awful. If this was some blissful dream that was running through his head while he was still over there, he didn’t want to ruin it. Jasper closed his eyes when the trimmer started its insistent whine, turning his head wherever Logan nudged it so he could get to all the leftover hair. He’d been a little tense for the first touch of someone else’s skin on his, but it didn’t feel bad or anything, so Jasper started to relax. “How long have we been friends?” he asked quietly after a moment or two.
As he buzzed the remaining patches of hair from Jasper's scalp, Logan figured they would just do this in silence for a while. So Jasper's questions took him by surprise, but only for a moment. "Uh, since grade school. Fifth grade, I think? So yeah, a long time." He didn't want to explain that they had both been losers, more or less. Or that they had gotten into trouble a lot. Or that they'd sucked each other off before Jasper disappeared. The urge to just spill out an insane amount of information was strong but Logan bit it back, focusing instead of getting Jasper's head shaved completely. He didn't want to overwhelm the situation, at least not until Jasper asked him to.
How old were you in fifth grade again? Pretty young, Jasper thought. That was a long time to know someone ... he wasn’t even sure how old he was right then, but Logan looked eighteen at least. If his judgement of such things was still intact. He was quiet for another moment or two, oddly soothed by the mechanical buzzing and the light touches of Logan’s fingers. “Who did you think to call, to tell them I’m here?” Jasper figured whoever had popped into Logan’s mind to inform them about him being back were the other most important people in his life. His best friend would know those types of people, right? Family, other friends?
Jasper had done most of the work with the scissors so it wasn’t too difficult to get everything buzzed off evenly. It was strange to see him without any hair but given the physical state Jasper had been in, Logan wasn’t sure he would have been able to get all that crud out of his hair no matter how much shampoo he used. Brushing some of the cut hair from Jasper’s shoulders, Logan again thought of his phone downstairs. “Uh, well, your dad. And sister, Amelia.” God, he hoped Jasper didn’t ask how old she was. That whole situation was complicated as fuck and Logan didn’t want to try and explain it. “Then Jules. She’s your... was your girlfriend. I don’t know. You told me you broke up with her before you got stuck over there but I think that was complicated. She’s been pretty... depressed. Your dad too. Those two more than anyone else. I figured your dad would tell the rest of your family if I told him. Oh, and Ruby too... she’s been a friend of yours for a long time. She misses you a lot.” Logan paused. “Those names don’t sound familiar at all?”
Having the small hairs stuck to the skin of his neck made Jasper want to shower again, but he let Logan get them off as well as he could. He could take another shower later. And then probably five more before he left this place. Jasper ran a hand over the fresh stubble on his head as he listened to Logan, a little line appearing between his brows at the news that he had a girlfriend. Or had one very recently. One that cared enough to be depressed that he was gone. Jasper would expect that from family members, but obviously he and this girl had been close. That felt stranger than knowing he’d had a best guy friend since fifth grade. “No, they don’t,” he murmured, shaking his head. Amelia, Jules, Ruby ... none of them meant anything to him. Jasper looked around at Logan over his shoulder, his expression fretful. “You didn’t, right? Not yet?”
Logan blew a soft breath through his lips. It was so strange that Jasper couldn't remember anything. Not even his sister. What would they do if he never remembered? If his memories never came back? Would Jasper still be Jasper? Logan gave him a reassuring smile. "Nah, not yet. If you need some time to adjust to being back, I can wait. But... this is a small town, J. You walk out the door, someone is going to see you. They might not recognize you without your hair, but... it's only a matter of time. And if my mom sees you, she's going to freak out. Why don't we give it a day or two and see how you feel... but then we should talk to your family."
Jasper was grateful for his discretion. He could imagine how hard it would be to keep this kind of news to himself even for a few hours when he knew there were people out there who were dying to have Jasper back. He just wasn’t ready to face it all yet. Logan’s bathroom and company felt safe, and that wasn’t a feeling Jasper could really remember having. He nodded some, looking relieved. “A day or two, at most,” he promised. That would hopefully give him time to get his bearings, and maybe his memories would be back by then. He did hope they came back, even if a lot of them were bad. He wanted to know who he was. Since Logan seemed to be done with his hair, he stood up and moved to where he could see himself in the mirror. He was a handsome guy, he supposed, though he looked a little more square and severe with no hair. That was okay, he felt severe. Rubbing at the back of his head -- the stubble felt kind of cool -- he looked back at Logan with a sheepish little smile. “Does it look all right? What’s my hair usually like?”
As Jasper studied his reflection, Logan wiped the tiny bits of fallen hair into the tub, climbing out as he did so. "Last I remember it was about shoulder length," Logan said. "I don't know that I've ever seen it longer than that, except for today. And yeah, man, it looks great. And if you don't like it, it'll grow back, right?" Logan ran the tub water to get the hair down the drain. "You kind of looked like Robin Williams from Jumanji when you showed up." He grinned and turned off the water, setting the trimmer on the sink. "Uh, are you still hungry? Do you want to sleep? We've got a fenced in backyard if you want to sit outside and get some fresh air." He felt like he could just rattle off a list of things to do but that was more because Logan wasn't sure what to do next.
Jasper didn’t know the reference, but he smiled faintly anyway. If his hair had been down to his shoulders before, he was sure the buzzed look would be a shock to his family, but he kind of liked it already. Finally, his head could breathe. He was clean. He would see how he felt later, but for now he liked just having the soft fuzzy brown shadow over his scalp and that was it. There was one more hygiene thing that he wanted to tend to, and Jasper pointed at the toothbrushes sitting up in a cup by the sink. “Can I use one of those?” he asked. “My mouth tastes like garbage. Then maybe we can go outside?” Just saying it made his heart beat harder with anxiety -- outside used to be bad just like the water. But Jasper wanted to breathe in the air and feel the sun.
Right. Toothbrush. Logan held up a finger and tugged open a drawer before pulling out a brand new, unopened toothbrush. "Mom gets these every time she goes to the dentist and they just pile up, so... this is yours for as long as you're here." He handed it to Jasper and then clasped the other guy on his shoulder as he moved past him towards the door. "Brush up and I'll go get us something to drink. I've got cigarettes too, if you want to have a smoke. I'm guessing you didn't have nicotine over there." Sadly, he was out of weed but it wouldn't take him long to get some if Jasper stayed a bit longer. This was just all so surreal, like he was having some crazy dream. If it wasn't real, then hopefully he'd sleep for a while longer.
It was almost weirdly touching to get his own toothbrush, and Jasper accepted it with a little half-smile. “Thank you,” he murmured, then perked up a bit at the mention of cigarettes. He couldn’t remember smoking them, but it was like his body jumped at the chance to have one. “Fuck yeah, that’d be great. I’ll be down in a minute.” A smoke out in the sun sounded kind of heavenly to Jasper, and he briefly wondered again if he was dead. He got the toothbrush out of the package and started to run the water to brush his teeth for the first time in months.
Logan left Jasper in the bathroom, heading downstairs to grab his cigarettes and water. After a moment of hesitation, he slipped his phone into his pocket as well. He wasn't going to text anyone, but it was possible Jasper would want to see photos or something and Logan had a few of those still on his camera roll. Out on the deck he settled into a chair and lit a cigarette, almost expecting Jasper to never appear. This could all be some kind of hallucination. Some really intense wishful thinking.
It took Jasper a little extra time to get done, because one single bout of brushing didn’t feel like enough, so he did it again. And swished with the mouthwash by the sink. It felt almost weird to be this clean, like his skin and scalp and mouth weren’t used to not being covered in gunk. Weird, but good. After looking himself over again in the mirror, Jasper left the bathroom and went downstairs, finding his way fairly easily to the back deck where Logan was. With the way the sun was positioned, it put the chairs in the shade, and Jasper bypassed Logan to go stand on the warm wooden boards for a moment. The heat of sunlight kissing the exposed skin of his head and neck and arms made them break out in gooseflesh. He turned his face up to it and shut his eyes for a moment, just soaking it in. There was no fog anywhere, nothing to be afraid of or watchful for, and the golden light shining down was goddamn divine. “There was no sun there,” he murmured, just loud enough to be heard.
No sun. Logan didn't find that terribly surprising, if it was similar to what the fog had done to Point Pleasant. Based on what little Jules had told him over the last couple of months, he had envisioned that place to be similar, just much darker and scarier. How Jasper was still alive was... a miracle. And probably a mystery. Shifting in his chair, Logan wondered if he ought to try and ask about Over There, or comfort his friend in a way. He just wasn't sure how. Logan had never been cut out for the emotional stuff. "Sounds like it was hell," Logan murmured. "What's the last thing you remember over there before you woke up here?"
As much as he would’ve liked to just bask in the sun for as long as it was up, Jasper wanted to talk to Logan more. He turned to face him, his brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to think of the answer. He lingered for another moment, until the scent of the cigarette between Logan’s fingers lured him into going to sit down next to his friend. “I remember talking to somebody,” he murmured then. “A girl our age ... Ellen? Melody? I dunno, it’s all kinda ... jumbled.” He shook his head a little, then gestured to Logan’s cigarette. “Can I have one of those?” Logan had offered before they’d come out here, but Jasper wasn’t comfortable enough yet to just take it.
Logan couldn't remember any Ellen or Melody, but he supposed that didn't matter either. If the girl hadn't come back like Jasper, she was probably dead. He handed the pack of cigarettes to Jasper. It had a lighter tucked inside. "I'm guessing you haven't smoked in a few months, so... don't choke." He grinned and slipped his cigarette back between his lips. "I know you don't remember me right now, but goddamn, I missed you. This is just... crazy. I know you've got a lot to process, and maybe your memory will come back real soon. But I'm trying really hard not to grab you and like, hug the shit out of you for the next four or five hours."
Jasper took a cigarette out and lit it, his movements not as habitual and confident as they once were, but not fumbling either. He expected to cough when he inhaled the first lungful of smoke, but he didn’t. It tasted good, actually, and went down pretty smooth. He did get a bit of a headrush and it burned, but in a good way. Jasper got a bit more comfortable, slouching a bit with his knees splayed, and he gave Logan a crooked little smile. “Is that somethin’ we used to do?” he asked in a murmur. Being grabbed and hugged actually didn’t sound too bad to him at the moment. He didn’t get the sense that he’d been touched a whole lot while he’d been gone, and the most he remembered was some hand-holding with the girl. Logan seemed so genuinely happy he was there, who wouldn’t feel good on the other end of that? “I’d be okay with a hug, if you wanna.”
Some things came naturally to people, even when they hadn't done them in a while. Smoking seemed to be one of those things for Jasper. Logan's lips twitched a little around his cigarette when Jasper asked if hugging was something they'd used to do. It probably wasn't the right place or time to say they'd done a lot more to each other than hug. Logan definitely didn't want to weird him out or confuse him so soon after getting thrown back into this place. But if Jasper was going to offer a hug, what reason did Logan have to refuse it? He had been missing his best friend for months now. So Logan grinned and stood, his arms wide as he gestured for Jasper.
Jasper had half expected Logan to turn the offer down, or at least put it off, and a smile that was slightly sheepish crossed his face as he stood up as well. He stepped in closer to the other guy, careful of the cigarette still between his knuckles as he wrapped his arms around Logan’s shoulders. It could’ve just been a brief touching of their chests with manly back thumping, but it didn’t turn out that way. As soon as Jasper felt Logan’s solid embrace, he didn’t want to move out of it. They were exactly the same height, and there was something a little vulnerable in being the one with his arms higher, but it felt right. Like they fit together. And Logan smelled really good too. Everything did here, it seemed like, but Jasper liked Logan’s scent more than whatever perfumy stuff had been in the carpet when he’d woken up. He didn’t know this guy, not really, but damn if Jasper didn’t want to cling to him in that moment.
Logan had always been an affectionate person, especially with his friends. Jasper was one of the few who had always reciprocated, rather than pulling away or getting uncomfortable with it. And it felt good being able to hug him again, after thinking he was dead for the last few months. It had been really tough and he hadn't really had anyone to mourn with other than Jules, and she had been dealing with her own shit. "You're definitely real," Logan murmured before pulling back just enough to lift his hand and run it over Jasper's buzzed hair. "I'm going to make so much fun of you when it starts growing back."
The gesture sent a tingle over his head and down the back of his neck and shoulders, his scalp not used to that particular feeling. Jasper got the sudden sense that he loved it when people played with his hair. It wasn’t tied to any specific memories, just something he felt sure of about himself now. He huffed out a laugh, reaching up to rub at the nape of his neck while he lowered his other arm. He wanted to keep hugging Logan but he didn’t want to be clingy and weird either. “Does it just like, grow straight out like a chia pet?” he asked with a sheepish little grin. Maybe he would keep cutting it, keep it short so it wouldn’t look like shit and would never get dirty again. “But yeah ... I’m real. I’m pretty sure, anyway. I keep thinkin’ maybe I’m dead, ‘cause this is ... somethin’ else,” he murmured, looking out at the sunshine again.
"Yeah, and it's going to look amazing," Logan teased. He clasped Jasper's shoulder and squeezed gently before nudging him back toward the seat to sit. He could have kept hugging the guy, but he wasn't sure if it would eventually get weird for his friend or not. "You're not dead though. If you were I guarantee my house isn't the place you'd consider heaven." He grinned and flopped back into his chair to finish his cigarette. "Or Hell, for that matter. Probably like, limbo, if that place exists. But if you want to stay here, we'll have to keep you in my room when my mom gets home... or we can go somewhere. If she sees you, she'll be on the phone no matter what I say."
Jasper sat and went back to smoking himself, thinking vaguely that his former self must have been spoiled rotten to not think of this place as heaven. There was clean water and sunshine and soap, cigarettes and hugs. A friend he didn’t know yet but who obviously had his back. Maybe he was just seeing the shiny side of things at the moment, but Jasper couldn’t express what a relief it was. “I’ll stay out of sight,” he agreed with a small nod, squinting out at the yard before he looked at Logan again. “Just for a day or so, I promise. ... what do you think my ideal heaven would be? Like, the old me, I mean.” Maybe it would give him some insight into who he’d been.
Logan took a moment to think about it, his gaze scanning the backyard and then up at the sky. It was blue and cloudless. Maybe he took it all for granted, considering where Jasper had been. Would he have been able to survive in that place for as long as Jasper had? Logan had no idea if he was strong enough for that. "Your ideal heaven..." He took another pull from his cigarette before looking over at his friend. "Somewhere near a beach, with your car, plenty of weed and Jules in her cheerleading uniform." He grinned. "At least, that'd be the Jasper I knew before you disappeared. Before that? Probably anywhere but here. Just having total freedom to go wherever you wanted."
All of that sounded really nice, the beach and weed and total freedom all wrapped up together. A car and a girl. The one who was his girlfriend, apparently. Would hugging her feel the same as hugging Logan? Some deep-seated bit of his personality was wary of the idea of having a serious girlfriend, but it must have been working for them before he disappeared. Jasper mentally chewed on that as he finished his cigarette and stubbed it out on the ashtray. “I don’t remember ever getting high, but like ... I feel like I do, at the same time. It’s weird,” he said. “Definitely wanna try that again. Do you have any pictures? Of Jules, I mean. Do you know her well?”
"I think it's good that you have some memories of it... even if it's just a feeling," Logan said. "That means your old life isn't completely gone from up here." He tapped his fingertips against his temple before he reached for his phone. "And you know, once I get some more, we can get high again. If I knew you were going to show up in my living room today I would've already bought some." Unlocking his phone, he began to scroll back through his photos. He didn't have any photos of Jules that he'd taken after Jasper disappeared, but he had a few from New Year's Eve when they all went to the marina together. "As for Jules... I knew her from school mostly. Got to know her better after you were gone. She was kind of the only one who understood what it was like." He found the picture he'd taken of Jasper and Jules on the pier. It was night time, but with the marina lights, it was a decent enough picture. He handed Jasper the phone. "She'd come over sometimes and smoke with me. I think it made us both feel better."
Jasper hoped Logan was right about his memories just being buried for now, instead of completely gone and wiped. He felt like he remembered how it felt to be high and enjoying himself, neither of which he’d done even for a second Over There. There were no specific images tied to the memory, it was just a feeling, like how he knew what it was like to be hungry or have to take a shit or whatever. He nodded a bit as he watched Logan thumb through his phone -- he was definitely game to smoke some weed with him, once it was available. If his old memories didn’t come back, he was going to need to make new ones, after all. Jasper took the phone and looked at the pic with interest. That was the guy from the mirror with a big grin on his face -- and shoulder-length hair, just like Logan said -- next to a pretty, slim blonde. So that was Jules. Jasper stared hard at her face, trying to remember anything about her: how she laughed, what her lips felt like, how she smelled, anything ... but nothing came to him. It was frustrating. He sighed and offered Logan’s phone back to him. “She’s pretty,” he murmured. “I hope she doesn’t like, completely freak out about me.” Jasper knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid some freak outs, he just wanted most people to be chill about it like Logan was.
Logan hoped he was right about the buried memories too. Though he wasn't terribly afraid of Jasper ditching him later or anything. He just knew how difficult it would be on everyone if Jasper never remembered any part of his life. And honestly, it kind of depressed Logan to think Jasper may never remember their own friendship. He knew how selfish that was, but he couldn't exactly flip off the feeling. Logan continued to smoke his cigarette while watching Jasper study the picture on the phone. When he took it back, he kept his eyes on the screen while uncomfortable feelings churned through his stomach. "Uh... nah, I don't think she'll freak out. I mean, not in the way you think she might. It's just kind of complicated." He finally looked up, squinting over at Jasper. "You really don't remember how you got to that place? Nothing at all?"
Complicated things were a little scary to think about at the moment, but Jasper didn’t know exactly what Logan meant by that, so he tried not to fret over it. He would find out soon enough how it would all go down. For now he just wanted to cling to the calm before the storm. Jasper’s brow furrowed a bit and he shook his head. “No ... it’s all kind of blurred together in my head, but there’s nothing really from before. All I remember is that place.” He paused, eyeing Logan with a bit of suspicion. “Why, what happened?” Jasper hadn’t really been thinking about it yet, but he realized he’d been assuming he just vanished to his friends and family, like what had become of him was a total mystery.
Logan cleared his throat and straightened up a bit in his chair. He set his phone back down on the patio table. "It's kind of a long story... from what I know anyway. I had bits and pieces of it from you and then from Jules. Maybe it's something someone else should tell you about. I don't want end up fucking it up and upsetting you." And knowing how Jasper disappeared made Logan increasingly curious as to how he came back. Had Jules opened up another doorway somehow? Had someone else? Or was it just... some mystery that would never have an answer. Ultimately he didn't care, because he had his best friend back, but it was a little odd and Logan was hoping that nothing terrifying had grabbed a ride with Jasper and was wandering around the town now.
Well that was fucking ominous, wasn’t it? If it was complicated and there was a lot to tell and he’d had a side before it had happened, then it hadn’t been something super sudden. Jasper gathered that he hadn’t just been struck by lightning out of the blue and disappeared, there’d been a story around it. A possibly upsetting one. He felt so disconnected from himself, he wasn’t sure he could even get upset at the past he didn’t remember, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out, either. Things felt really good at the moment, maybe keeping it simple for now was best. “All right,” he murmured. “Fair enough.” He would just add it to the list of shit he had a million questions about and no idea where to start. “Did other people go missing at the same time as me? Like, I remember other people there and I think I knew them, but ... I dunno, I can’t remember if they came from here, or somewhere else.”
Relieved that Jasper wasn't going to push for a thorough explanation, Logan felt himself relax a little. He only understood some of what Jules had told him though Jasper's behavior toward the end of the whole thing had made a lot more sense after the fact. If he could give Jasper the answers he deserved, he would have definitely done it. It was why his fingers were itching to call someone and have them come over. Jules. Mr. Lucas... someone. But he had promised Jasper, so he would keep silent about it for now. "Yeah, you weren't the only one. I don't know how many exactly. Maybe a dozen? I guess you were all in the same place when it happened. Point Pleasant is a small enough town that... I mean, you probably did know them. Or knew their names at least."
A dozen, all gone at once. Jasper thought it must have been a pretty sad week on this side after that had happened. The number sounded vaguely right when he compared it to the faces he remembered from the other side. “I remember ...” he began slowly, his brow knotted in concentration. “A lot of ‘em were staying in this hotel ... we called it J-something ... June? Juniper? It was kinda where everybody clumped together, but I didn’t like to stay there every night. I think there was only the one girl my age ... and there was a werewolf.” He looked over at Logan, sure that would get a derisive laugh or disbelief at least. But Jasper clearly remembered the werewolf, and the strange old guy with white streaks in his beard who usually accompanied it. “But it didn’t want to kill us. I just kinda ... hung around sometimes.”
Yeah, hearing about a werewolf definitely drew a surprised, maybe slightly incredulous look but Logan was well aware of Point Pleasant's history and considering Jasper had been sucked into some weird hell dimension, he wasn't about to call his friend crazy. There seemed to be so many different ways Jasper could have potentially died over there that Logan was becoming increasingly grateful that he had survived it all. "Juniper," Logan said, his dark brows furrowed together. "That's like, a bed and breakfast type place here in town." Jules had told him about what happened at the school. How the other place looked like Point Pleasant, only something like a decayed version of it. Was that where Jasper had been? "Did you go anywhere else over there? Other than Juniper?"
Juniper, that was right. It was just frustrating that Jasper couldn’t remember how he knew it was right, except for a couple fleeting recollections of other people saying it over there. He nodded a bit to Logan’s question and made a vague gesture. “I wandered a lot. Probably shouldn’t have, I had to run from some scary shit sometimes, I think ... but I remember sleeping in a couple of different houses. There wasn’t much in ‘em but furniture, and I know like, at the time I knew where I was. Like they were significant places. But now I can’t remember where or why.” He frowned and rubbed one hand over his buzzed hair. There was a dull headache starting behind his eyes, and he tossed out the vague hope that his memories would come back, because this sucked. “Sorry, I know that’s super vague,” he muttered to Logan.
"You don't need to be sorry for it," Logan said. "I'm sure one of those houses was your dad's. If I took you there now, you'd probably recognize it." He didn't know that for sure, but he was hoping it was true. Maybe Jasper would just need some reminders to get his memory going... or... triggers. Whatever people would call them. And Logan wished he could promise Jasper there would be no scary shit here to run from, but that would be a lie. This town was part of the reason why Jasper had gone in the first place. Sure, things had been a bit quiet lately, but that didn't mean anything. It made Logan a bit nervous, to be honest. "I mean, physically... how are you? You look okay, but... now I'm wondering if you should go to the hospital or something. You don't feel sick or anything, do you?"
Jasper was mulling over how strange that would probably be -- to walk up on his dad’s house and recognize it from its fucked up version over there. He could sort of picture the layout of the house he’d spent the most time in, and he wondered if that was it, or if he’d been seeking refuge in Jules’s house or what. It hadn’t been this one, at least not as far as Jasper could recall. He shook his head a bit in answer to Logan’s question, then gave a soft huff. “I feel mostly fine, just like, super hungry,” he admitted. In spite of the sandwiches he’d wolfed down, there was still an empty ache in his gut that he’d been ignoring in favor of getting cleaned up and nicotine in his system. “I don’t need a hospital. They’d start calling people I’m not ready for anyway, right?”
"I can make you more food," Logan offered. "Or we could order something. Chinese food, pizza? We can get as much as you want, man." They'd had a few sandwiches but Logan could always eat more. "And yeah, they might call people for you... but you're also eighteen, so if you tell them not to, they probably wouldn't. Though, considering you've been missing for so long, someone might tip off the Sheriff, so I guess it's better if you don't go. Unless you feel like shit, or something's wrong... I feel like I'm talking in circles." He huffed softly. "We can do, or not do, whatever you want, as long as you're feeling okay. I'm a pretty sucky nurse and I don't want you dying on me."
He didn’t remember what either of those things really tasted like, just that he had a strong preference for pizza. Jasper didn’t want to make Logan cook for him or anything, so delivered food sounded good. He made a mental note that he was eighteen -- something he understood made him a legal adult -- since he hadn’t known that before. Jasper still didn’t want to risk going somewhere someone might recognize him yet. Even if doctors and nurses weren’t supposed to tell, who knew who else might be there. “I’m feeling okay, definitely not like I’m dying,” he reassured Logan with a little smile. “So I just wanna eat pizza and lay low with you. Probably like, pass the fuck out soon too. I haven’t slept easy in ... months, I guess.”
Jasper didn't look sick. Just tired and pale, which Logan supposed made sense if there had been no sun wherever he was. Still, Logan could only imagine what living in that kind of environment might do to a person. Picking up his phone, Logan began to pull up Dino's phone number. "Let's get some pizza then, and then you can sleep for the next week and half if you want to. You can crash in my bed. Mom never bursts in if the door is shut, so you'll be all right." Logan cocked a dark brow. "Uh, I'd ask what you want on your pizza but... do you remember what you like on pizza?" He grinned. "Or do you trust me to order what you usually like."
It was such a small thing, but being in the presence of someone who knew him well enough to order food for him made Jasper feel a little emotional. It was like an anchor, something to cling to while he was so adrift in what was apparently his real life. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hide in Logan’s room for long, but for now he just wanted that safety. Maybe whatever had allowed him to come back had put him in this house for a reason. He smiled faintly again, his throat feeling a bit thick. “I trust you,” he said. “Get whatever I used to like.” With as deeply hungry as he was, it probably wouldn’t even matter what the toppings were, but still. It meant something.
Even if Jasper couldn't remember who he was, Logan was hoping all of those things that made Jasper Jasper were still in there somewhere. Would he like the same kind of pizza? Would he enjoy getting high? It was strange to think this Jasper may be different... but it was just too early to know if this was permanent memory loss or not. So Logan focused on getting the pizza ordered, along with some wings and cheesy bread, so they could eat. All the other stuff they could worry about later.
They ate outside on the porch so Jasper could continue enjoying the sunshine and fresh air, and afterward, Logan led Jasper upstairs to his bedroom. "Sorry the place is a bit of a mess," he said. The bed wasn't made and he had some clothes strewn about. Logan walked over to push open the window just to get some fresh air in the room too. "I can change the sheets if you want, but if it makes you feel better they're clean...ish. I mean, I haven't gotten laid in a while or jerked off in bed or anything lately."
It turned out, Jasper loved the pizza. And the wings. And the cheesy bread. By the time he was done eating, a drowsiness was starting to build in him. He was hydrated and fed, he was clean, he was somewhere safe, and he didn’t give a single shit that the bed was unmade. He quirked a little smile as he glanced around Logan’s room. This was a mess? There wasn’t anything black growing anywhere, he didn’t see a single sign of rot, this was fucking heavenly. “Nah man, this is great,” he murmured. Jasper left his clothes on as he crawled onto Logan’s bed. “Jizz is nothing compared to what I’ve been sleepin’ in.” He started to rearrange the covers over his legs, then paused and gave Logan a sheepish sort of glance. “Do you mind ... hanging out for a little while?”
Logan couldn't really imagine what it had been that Jasper was sleeping in, but he was hoping that in time Jasper would forget all of it. Maybe that was too optimistic of him, but it seemed like people in this town forgot horrible shit pretty quickly. Or maybe they just pretended to. At Jasper's request, Logan cocked a dark brow before moving to climb onto the bed. It wasn't the first time they'd slept there together and he was glad to see Jasper hadn't reverted to some weird sense of "no homo" by being Over There and forgetting himself. "I can hang out, no problem. Sleep as long as you need to, okay? I'm not going anywhere." He'd slip out if his mom came home, but until then, he could doze or play on his phone for a bit. And try to resist texting Jules.
Pleased that Logan didn’t think it was a weird thing to ask, Jasper shifted around and settled on his side, his arm curled under the pillow he’d claimed. More questions about himself drifted through his head, but his brain was already tired from all of the information to take in. He knew his name, and that this guy really cared about him, and that he was comfortable where he was. That was all he needed for now. Maybe he ought to question exactly how comfortable he was in the bed of another dude, but Jasper wasn’t. It just felt right and almost familiar. Logan’s weight and warmth next to him were soothing -- he didn’t quite remember sharing a bed with Elodie Over There, but he got the sense that he hadn’t always slept alone and that had made him feel safer. “How weird is this for you?” he asked in a murmur, slowly studying Logan’s face.
Looking over at his friend, Logan cocked a brow. "What'd you mean? How weird is what... that you're here? It's really fucking weird, but in a good way. I don't know how you got here, or why you ended up in my house, of all the places, but I'm glad you did. I guess if you grow up here, things that should be really fucking weird aren't really that weird at all." He paused and then smirked. "If you mean how weird is it that we're in my bed together, it's not weird either. It's not the first time." He shrugged. "This has got to be much weirder for you than me."
Jasper had kind of meant both, so he was glad that Logan answered thoroughly. He was kind of glad to hear that they’d shared a bed before, so he didn’t worry about making Logan uncomfortable by being there. Tiredness was tugging at his body now that he was horizontal, but his mind was still ticking along too fast to fall asleep just yet. “It’s definitely fucking weird,” he agreed softly. “I wonder ... I wonder if it put me here with you on purpose somehow. Like I could’ve ended up in anybody’s living room, I guess. There was nothing good about that place, but like ... maybe something good got me out.” He had a feeling all of this would be much harder to deal with if he’d ended up with a stranger -- they probably would’ve screamed and kicked him out of their house and then he would be wandering around really lost.
"Well, I mean... you hung out here a lot before you disappeared," Logan said. "But I don't know, man. I'd be useless trying to speculate on any of that stuff. Something good could have totally got you out though." He didn't want to suggest Jules had found a way, because that might tip off that she was sort of the reason he ended up there in the first place. "Better you show up here where I can help you then someone else who doesn't know you, or does know you and would call the cops or something. And I don't think it's a coincidence you ended up here. What are the odds of that, you know?"