InsaneJournal

Kevin and Julian, backdated
Who: Kevin and Julian
When: Monday of robobaby week
Where: somewhere on campus
What: scheduling




If Kevin had been any kind of religious, still, he'd have thought god had one hell of a sick sense of humor - or maybe just hated him, given all the other available evidence - when he found out who his partner was. And what the project was for. He wasn't sure if it made it at least somewhat better or infinitely worse that Josh had decided to delay the start of their...arrangement...once they'd realized that annual project week was coming up. It had already been days since he'd seen him other than in passing, awkward and uncertain about how he was supposed to behave, and now it was going to be another full week. A full week during which he'd be required to spend a minimum of two hours a day with Julian of all people.

Kevin tugged restlessly at his gloves and kept his attention on the robot Julian was carrying when they stopped in one of the courtyards. Trying to sort things out in public seemed safer, all things considered. "So, how do you want to do this?" Fucking hellhe hated this project. It would have been bad enough with anyone as his partner.


"I wake early," Julian said, looking down at the baby. It was...a little unnerving. Unlike many of the people he'd spoken to once the announcement had been made, he actually wanted children. He wasn't sure how he felt about a robot made to look like one. "Around 4:30 to 5, for my morning run. If it's okay with you, I think the baby should stay in your room overnight, unless you'd rather do a handover early morning."


Great, a week of not sleeping so Julian could have his morning run.

"Fine." It wasn't worth arguing with, because if he started on that he might never stop. "Hand it over before or after breakfast?" He hated how real it looked, hated the assurance they'd given him when they'd collected it that it was entirely inorganic and he could touch it safely. Unlike a real baby. One more reminder of what Julian could share with Josh that he couldn't. Not safely.


"What time do you go to bed? I can hand it over late and take it back once my run is over. I'll take it for longer on weekend nights, since I can run later into the morning."


Kevin shrugged. "'Round ten or eleven, I guess." It used to be thirty or forty minutes after curfew at the earliest, because he'd been spending every available minute with Josh, now...it was whenever he rolled over and passed out. "Doesn't really matter, bring it by whenever you need to."

"All right, I'll drop it off at eleven and take it for most of the afternoon and early evening. On the weekends, I'll take it all night." Julian figured if Kevin didn't like the agreement, or didn't think it was fair, he'd speak up. But with the call from SHIELD still dangling, Julian couldn't afford to let up for even a minute.


"Fine," Kevin agreed again. Not arguing, not engaging any further than he had to. Still looking at the damned 'baby', not at Julian, and feeling vaguely sick at how real it looked. "So, we have to spend...two hours a day together with it or it affects our mark."


"Right. It may be easier if we decide on a set schedule for that, too."


Kevin laughed at that, short and quiet and bitter. "Jesus, this has got to be some kind of sick joke," he muttered under his breath. Because no, he didn't have any hellishly miserable associations with scheduling his fucking life with Julian. "When?" he added immediately. "Doesn't matter to me except for today, the rest of the week is. Flexible." Monday being the one day of the week he had a scheduled meeting with his trainers.


Julian ignored the muttered words, choosing to focus on the project. "How about directly after classes end?"


Kevin nodded then shoved his hands into his pockets and paced away. "Library? Activity Center lounge?" You couldn't have paid him to have Julian in his room and he sure as hell didn't want to go into his, not and see where- He cut that train of thought off.


Activity Center lounge. People may be trying to study in the library."


"You know, we can just blow that part off. It might not fuck your mark up too badly." He didn't really give a damn about his.


"I'm still waiting to hear from SHILD," Julian said. "You can blow it off if you'd like, but I need to be able to say I made an effort to complete the task in good faith."


He really wished he could actually hate Julian, this whole clusterfuck would be a lot easier if he was a jackass. Walking away from this project and letting him tank it would be easy. But he wasn't. And if Kevin blew it the hell off and didn't show for any of their joint time, good faith effort or not it would probably fuck up Julian's mark too.

"Shit. Fine. Right after classes every day in the lounge."


"Okay," Julian said, relieved but not letting it show too much. He was giving Kevin as much emotional distance as possible, knowing he'd want the same if their situations had been reversed. "I'll go ahead and take it first."


"It won't affect your score if I fuck up when you're not around, right?"



"No, I don't think so. I think as long as we don't drop it on its head or let it starve, we should come out of this with okay marks.


Kevin snorted, back still turned to Julian, and closed his eyes for a moment. "At least I can't accidentally fucking kill it, or at least not any easier than anyone else."


"I'm fairly sure infant death would guarantee a failing score," Julian agreed mildly. His response was exactly the sort of thing he would have said to Josh.


"I'm fairly sure I don't actually give a shit," Kevin countered. "It's not like this is anything I need any god damned practice for."


"Take it up with the professors," Julian suggested, mild tone unchanging. "Maybe we'll have better luck next year."


Kevin froze for a moment, then his shoulders just...dropped. "Yeah, whatever. Maybe you will." He doubted he'd be there, even if they did ever come through and finally accept his application to start as a freshman. "We're done then?"


"It looks like it. Message me if you need me for anything," Julian added, gathering the baby. He held it easily, naturally, cradling its small head as if it were real. "Oh, wait. What are we naming it?"


"Does it matter? Hell-" He turned back, still looking at the robot rather than Julian, though either one made him feel vaguely sick. Which showed on his face, he was a crap actor even when he was actually trying. "Do we even know if it's a fake girl or a fake boy?"


"That's easy enough to find out." Julian was a master actor--no one other than Josh and Emma would have been able to tell that this interaction made him intensely uncomfortable. To anyone else, he radiated relaxed self-confidence. He carefully tugged at the baby's clothing, checking quickly before smoothing them back into place. "It's a girl. Do you have any preferences?"


"I'm having a hard time imagining how I could possibly care less." Yeah, the longer this went on the less effort he was making...and he hadn't been making much of one to begin with. He was miserable. It was showing. "Call it whatever you want."


"I'll take care of it," Julian said. It would be so easy to set Kevin off, he thought. He knew just the buttons to push, was almost certain he could drive him to do something he'd regret.

Julian pushed that thought away as he gathered his things. "Enjoy the rest of the day," he said, heading toward the door with the baby. He could research names later. No need to go into this blind.


"Fine." He'd been saying that a lot, even though nothing was actually fine. "I'll see you...whenever. Eleven, I guess."