The two discuss still being friends in sixteen plus
years.
⚠
nah
Jake had been eager to introduce Kady to his son and her nephew. Mason was amazing, and easily charmed her because that's what his kid did. Won everyone over because he was the best. And part of that was Mason seeming to realize the perfect moment to make himself scarce after breakfast, giving Kady and Jake a chance to talk.
Jake glanced over at her now, contemplating what to say. She'd liked his kid, so it didn't seem to be that. Something had seemed off since he'd been talking to her the day before and he couldn't figure it out.
"Speak?" he asked, finally. He couldn't read her mind but maybe she'd just tell him, if given the chance.
Kady did like his kid. Mason seemed exactly like she might have imagined a kid raised by Jake would be. Not that she ever would have imagined something like that. Because why in the world would she think they would still be in one another’s lives for at least sixteen more years. Most likely it would be significantly longer than that. She doubted Mason was born in the next six months or so, which only added to the length of their friendship.
It didn’t make sense.
People weren’t friends that long.
Or well, no. She wasn’t friends with people that long. There was always a parting of ways at some point, usually before that year round mark. But they were still friends in the distant future. And good friends if she was called ‘Aunt Kady’ by his kid.
It wasn’t bad. It was just confusing. Something she really didn’t know how to process. “We’re still in Vallo a long time from now,” she settled on.
Oh. Yeah. That was something. "Yeah, I had that moment yesterday too. But with Mako here…"
He shrugged. He wouldn't have his sister back home, and so the tradeoff wasn't one he even thought about. But Kady had friends back home. At least one who'd been here and left. Of course, there was the possibility Julia showed back up. Margo was proving that Vallo could be a revolving door.
"Would you rather be at home?" he asked.
She never said much about home, but he had thought she liked Vallo better. Based on what the rest of the people from her world had said, he would like Vallo better.
Kady snorted at the question. “No. Home sucks. Here it is definitely better.” In every single way. There wasn’t a thing she preferred about her home world over Vallo. As far as she knew Julia would be okay over there. Plus maybe she showed up in the next sixteen years. The others seemed to come and go often enough.
“We’re still friends after sixteen years.” The concept wasn’t getting any easier for her to wrap her brain around. “Good friends if your kid is calling me aunt.”
"Oh, so you're sad you haven't managed to ditch me by then?" Jake teased, before letting up. "I told you at some point that you were stuck with me. I meant that." He considered a moment before adding, "Not everything is temporary."
“I’m not sad.” She bristled at that, even if he was teasing. Her scowl was back on her face as she looked over at Jake again. “Most things usually are temporary.” At least in Kady’s life they had been.
Especially people. There wasn’t anyone who had been in her life for too long. Not even her mom really. “But you apparently aren’t.”
"I'm not," Jake agreed. "You're stuck with me but there's worse fates." He considered her again, before moving over on the couch so he could hug her, in a tangible display of being present and there. And because he cared immensely about this woman who was surprised that a decades long friendship was possible.
"I really don't know what you've been through, but I'm not going anywhere. Alright?”
And now there was hugging. She should have known that was going to happen. It was a very Jake thing to do. She let him do it and even hugged him back for a few seconds before pushing space back between them. It was still too surreal, even if she’d come to see him as a fixture in her life these last few months. But sixteen years was a lot to try and take in. A good thing, but still a lot.
“Its not shit I want to talk about.” It didn’t happen in Vallo and Kady was trying to think of the place as a clean slate. For all the weirdness that happened in this world, it wasn’t the painful variety that she was used to in her own. Even her magic seemed to work differently here. Not all pain and hurt to make it useful. Should have known that the magic from her world would be the shittiest as well.
“But yeah, I’m glad you’re not going anywhere.”
"Okay," Jake said, not pushing for information. He was used to that by now, and he figured if she did ever want to dredge up memories of life before Vallo, she knew where to find him. He nudged her even as she pulled back though, adding, "Think of how many bets I'm going to lose over that time."
He'd won one, the one that mattered, which was restoring the bike. Everything else would just end up with him taking Kady out to eat because somehow their wagers always involved food. He wasn't complaining.
"Anyway, that's sorted. Can we talk about how amazing my kid is?"
“I am looking forward to all of the food I’m going to win.” And was she going to care that he was most likely going to let her win on some of these future bets? Nope. More free food for her. Seemed like a pretty good deal to her.
One day she might want to open up about her past life, but Kady was still firmly of the belief that there wasn’t any point to it. Doing so didn’t change what had happened and none of it seemed to be carrying over to Vallo. If it ever did besides the ridiculous relationship drama that sometimes occurred in the Magicians group then she might change her mind. But it was easy enough to stay away from the others for a bit if that did happen.
“You did good with him.” Mason seemed like a really sweet, well put together kid. A happy one too.
"Yeah, I did," Jake agreed. "Future me is pretty great. Of course, so is present me."
He grinned, not minding making fun of himself to bring the conversation back up. If knowing they were going to still be friends at least sixteen years into the future was what it took for Kady to believe he might stick around, he'd take it.
“Eh. Present you is alright,” Kady deadpanned, hand wavering a bit in the air to emphasize her point.
"Pretty greatly alright," Jake qualified, not faltering in the slightest. "It's one of my strengths. That and invading people's lives until they are friends with me for decades."
She did roll her eyes at that, even if she was unsurprised by his comments. “Yeah yeah yeah. Don’t let it go to your head.”
Kady was well aware that he would do that though. But it got her a fridge she could always raid and Jake was a good person to have around. There wasn’t any point in denying that any longer it seemed. At least not outloud.