Jessica Drew [Spider-Woman] (screwedover) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-05-15 19:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, billy batson (captain marvel), jessica drew (spider-woman) |
Who: Billy Batson and Jessica Drew
What: Having lunch together
Where: A park near her work
When: Monday afternoon
Rating: G
Status: Complete
Billy pulled to a stop in his little car, parking next to the park and getting out with his lunch box. Being seventeen and having his own place let him leave campus during lunch and he was enjoying that. The park was a little buys today, but he spotted one lunch table with only one woman sitting at it and he approached. “Scuse me, ma’am? Mind if I sit here?”
He gestured to the other side. At six feet and three inches, he was tall and slim, and he had floppy black hair and light eyes. His smile was easy and he stood quietly as he waited for a response.
Ever since her diagnosis had come back, Jess had been feeling confused this time around. She decided to get some fresh air in the park that was just around the corner from the lab she worked at. Maybe that would clear her head a little. Grabbing some lunch for herself, she sat down at a table and started to eat.
At the sound of someone getting her attention she looked up. “Hm? Oh.. uh no, go right ahead.” She gestured to the the table and gave a small smile. “Looks like a lot of us have the same idea.”
Billy nodded. “Seems like.” He extended his hand. “I’m Billy Batson. Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”
Jess shook his hand and smiled. “I’m Jessica Drew. I didn’t realize I was old enough to be ma’am. You can just call me Jessica.” She didn’t want to feel that old, especially today.
“Everyone can be called Ma’am. It’s a form of respect. Nice to meet you, Jessica Drew.” he grinned at her. “And you’re not old. You’re young and cute.” he nodded and munched his sandwich.
“Well most women probably don’t like it. It makes us feel old.” Might as well tell him, right? She didn’t know any woman who wanted to be called ma’am. Unless they were in the army or something. “Young and cute. Thanks. I think.”
He looked down, abashed. “Sorry, Jessica. “ He sighed, but offered her a lopsided smile. “I misspoke again, huh?” This was not going well.
She shook her head a little. “Nah. You’re good. Don’t worry about it. Just a hint. You know .. with the ladies. So what are you up to, Billy? Besides eating?”
Billy nodded, facepalming. “Oh, studying for finals, and for the college placement tests. And some paperwork for my job.” He grinned. “There’s always something that needs doing.”
Ahh. Jess nodded knowingly. “I remember those days.” She wasn’t that young after all. “Paperwork is the worst part of all jobs. Trust me.”
“I’m pretty good at it. I do the paperwork at my work and at my volunteer job, too.” Billy grinned at her. “What do you do, Jessica?”
“Yeah but you don’t actually like doing it, do you?” She’d never be able to understand that. “I work at that lab around the corner, the one for cancer research.”
“Sometimes I do, yes.” He grinned. Then his eyes went wide and he bowed his head to her, and swallowed. “Thank you.” He licked his lips. “My mother is a cancer survivor and only because of research being done in that kind if place.. If I can ever do anything for you, anything at all, you let me know.” His words were fervent and sure.
“Oh well, I’ll give you all my paperwork to do then,” Jess teased. Anything to get out of it. “Oh yeah? That’s great. I mean not that she had it, but that she’s a survivor. That’s really wonderful.” If only she could say the same for herself now. “I will certainly hit you up for donations if the time ever calls for it.”
Billy chuckled. But he also grinned at her. “Okay.” He nodded. He’d do it, for her. Yep. “I’ll find a way.” He smiled wider. “What do you do when not saving the world?” Because that was what beating Cancer meant to him.
“Every tiny bit helps. I know people say that and it sounds cliche but it’s true. It does.” Jess made sure all the money went to researching good things. She smiled a little at that. “Oh let’s see. I hang out with my beautiful girlfriend, and our friends. Have weird dreams about being a superhero. That sort of thing. What about you?”
Billy nodded. It did sound cliche, but, it was true, he knew. He knew that from Urdnot Ranch. He smiled at her. Listening, he smiled wider. “Good! Sounds like a good time.” He shrugged. “Me? Mostly work and volunteer. I ride my bike sometimes for fun, but that’s about all.” He hadn’t started dreaming yet.
It sounded like he needed to get out more. Not that she was going to say that. “I hear you. It seems like most of my time is spent at work and volunteering as well. I had been thinking about taking a break, but I’m not sure now.”
Billy nodded. “I go to tea shops sometimes, because I like them, and to classic movies, some, but mostly...i work and volunteer.” He hmmed. “Do you like movies?”
“Tea’s good. Of course, I’m British so that helps. Classic movies are nice. I wish that there was a movie theater that played old movies on the big screen.” Instead of on dvd. That would be nice. “Not as much as I’d like to, but I go a lot during the summer.”
“There’s a great tea shop I know. You should totally go there.” He fished out a piece of paper and wrote down the name and address, then handed it over.
Billy blushed, then cleared his throat. “Ah, well, it just so happens there is? The classics theater, down on Twelfth? It’s not publicized very much, but you should go. I go most weekends, on Sunday mornings.”
“Really? I had no idea. I’ll have to go and check it out. Thanks for telling me.” That really made her day, considering her day had been pretty crappy lately. “If you ever need someone to go with, let me know. I’m on that internet blog thing.”
“You’re welcome.” He went there, sometimes alone, sometimes with Ty Lee, when she was around. “Cool! And I will definitely look you up. Life is pretty crazy, but I like reading and talking on it myself.” He nodded. Billy enjoyed all the people.
“That it is. Work work work. But it’s nice to take a break.” She’d be taking a lot of breaks soon enough, when she was too sick to work. “It’s a good way to meet people. Find others who want to join you for old movie night.”
“Yeah. Sounds good to me.” Billy smiled widely at her. “And I’ll do your paperwork, sometimes, too.” Because he would, and that was just who he was.
Jess laughed a little. “Okay, I guess you’ve got yourself a deal then. And if you ever need help with um.. well I don’t know, but if you need to get something down that’s really high up, let me know. I’m good at getting things down.”
Billy blinked at that, but grinned. “Deal.” He nodded to her, pleased by her friendliness and her agreement. She was pretty cool. “This is the nicest conversation I’ve had with a random stranger in some time.”
When Jess was in a good mood, she was really nice to people. This was good distraction. And she just liked to talk to people. “Me too actually. I don’t usually randomly talk to people, but I feel like talking to new people is on my bucket list.”
“You have a bucket list, too? Cool! I made one this last year, after nearly dying twice during the robot battle and the blue flu epidemic. So, I decided to start trying to do things.” He grinned at her, enthused. “I want to go to Paris, and to see the Grand Canyon, and a bunch more silly things.” He nodded.
“It’s a fairly new bucket list, but yeah I have one. Nearly dying definitely changes your perspective on things,” she agreed fervently. “It’s a good thing to have, I think. I should definitely put some things I’d like to see on there. So far it’s all white water rafting and things like that.”
“I will be cheering for you. And oooh, white water rafting. I might add that one, after running a race, but before Paris.” He nodded. He had positions on the list, and everything.
“Maybe before trying to win an all you can eat hot dog contest too.”
Ah she wished she could run races. Maybe she still had some time to do that. “Thanks, I’m going to need it.” More than he knew. “I think it’ll be fun. The white water rafting, I mean. I could try a hot dog eating contest, I don’t know how much I like hot dogs though.”
“That would be one way to find out. Maybe a pie eating contest instead? “ Billy nodded. Everyone liked pie, right? “Or a chocolate milo drinking contest! Oh!” He could do that!
“Oh pie! That’s a good one. Definitely going on my list. Thanks for the suggestion. Do they have chocolate milk drinking contests?” Yikes. All of the lactose problems. Jess would stay away from that one.
“I dunno. But I like chocolate milk, so it could be fun.” He grinned at her. “If you come up with any good ones, let me know.” He paused, and then nodded. “My last one... is to kiss a girl, like, romantically. I don’t know how realistic that is, but... it sounds like something worth doing.”
“It could be. I’ll stick with pie.” She was pretty sure at least that would taste good coming up as it would going down. Heh. “I think I’d go see some exotic animals too.” Jess glanced over at him. “You’ve never kissed a girl?”
“Pie is good. Good choice.” He smiled at her. “Exotic animals? Good idea... hmmm. Maybe the cute pandas in China?”
He blushed and shook his head. “A friend, yes, but romantically? No. It never quite worked out. I had a girlfriend once, but she had a thing about kissing, so we never did it.” And then their attempt at sex had gone so badly she had sworn to never see him again. And she hadn’t. Yep. That had sucked.
“A thing about kissing? Huh.” She’d never heard that one before, but whatever floated someone’s boat. “Well I’m sure you’ll get around to it. You’re a cute guy.”
Billy blushed and shook his head. He didn’t think so, but he wouldn’t argue openly with her. “Ah, so, someday, maybe.” He nodded.
“I mostly just want to do the small things. Like build and ride in a hot air balloon...”
“I’ll cross my fingers for you,” she swore with a smile. “You want to build one and ride in it? That’s pretty ambitious. Good luck.”
“Yes! They have kits and it sounds like it would be fun.” HE smiled to her. “Thanks! I’ll take pics for you.”
“They have kits? Seriously? To make hot air balloons? Wow.” She’d have to look into that or something. “You should, I’d love to see it.” She glanced at her watch to see if it was almost time for her to go back.
Billy nodded. “These days? They have kits for everything.” Noticing her glance, he smiled. “I should let you finish you lunch in peace. Thanks for sharing the table.” He stood.
“Yeah guess you’ve got a point there,” she agreed. “Oh you’re very welcome. Thanks for sharing. I’ll see you around hopefully.” Jess waved.