Summer 2014 - Jay

[Scumfish]

There was a knock on the door to warn the occupant that someone was coming in before it opened carefully, admitting a behatted head of red hair. Jay had his graduation hat and robes on, hair actually in a ponytail and neat and a smile despite the state of his best friend. "Hey, Gede...y'all up f' a visit, ami?"

"Do I gots a choice?" Darren put his book down, turning his blank face to Jay and trying not to sound too down, "How did-did the ceremony go?"

Jay's smile turned into a grin as the winged mutant shouldered the door open, pulling in a covered trolley. "Non, y' don't. If Ah'd had my way, d' thing would have been down here, but Ah guess Baldy had a point dat dere jus' wasn' room." He pulled a hat out from under the cloth, plonking it on Darren's head. "Tell y'all d' truth...borin' as hell."

Darren reached up and patted the hat, "Yeeeah, I doubt that would have been fun for anyone ... so what's on the trolly bro?"

"Cain't take Mohammed to d' mountain, bring d' mountain to Mohammed!" He pulled the cloth off, revealing cake, punch, hell even some of the nibbles he'd managed to pilfer. There was even a small coolbox with a few bottles of beer and a small bottle of champagne. "Alright, Ah might be a li'l drunk." Jay confessed with a grin as he sat down on the bed.

"But Ah figured y'all shouldn't be sat here on y' own. Not after dat." He smiled again. "Y'all mind havin' a mini-party right here, ami? After all, y' got some serious shit to celebrate, oui?" He pulled out a scroll, waving it enticingly.

"... Is that my sheep-skin?" Darren sounded hopeful, "Gimme! Gimme!" He pawed at the air for it.

"Ouuui, it is..." Jay dangled it just out of reach with a grin. "But y' gotta ask f' it nicely, ami." Damnit, perfect moment to bribe him for a kiss and he couldn't. Ah well.

"Oh for fuck's sake Jay1" Darren tried to elongate his arm to snatch it ... but to no avail, "just gimme the damn thing!"

Jay laughed - he couldn't help it - as he handed it over, patting Darren's hat. "Dat'll do, Ah guess." He chuckled. "Guess what, dude - Ah passed wit' flyin' colours! Distinctions across d' board. Ah thought Ah was gonna fail composition f' sure but apparently Ah did great." He bounced slightly.

"Of course you did, you had me helping you," Darren hugged his sheep-skin to him protectivly, "I'm still a genius, even when I'm crispy," he reached over and poked Jay's arm, "but seriously, congratulatons man."

Jay grinned. "Yeah, Ah know, Ah'm nothin' without y'all ami. You're d' brains an' d' brawn, Ah'm jus' the pretty face - at least 'til y' get better an' out-pretty me again." He smirked. "Deep-fried rather'n crispy, ami, at least y' lookin' better den when we found you." And he wasn't going to forget that in a hurry. But he shook it off, grabbing a beer. "Y' want?"

"Can't, no mouth," Darren shrugged, "you drink it for me. So how're you holding up after the mission?"

"Ffft. It'll sit in d' fridge den." Jay shrugged. "Me? Besides havin' to stop myself salutin' Fury every five minutes an' bein' hungover, Ah'm fine, ami. New appreciation for d' metal wing - Ah cain't hide from bullets like everyone else, but your shit kept me from bein' shot." He opened the beer, wings pulled tight. "Besides layin' out a few FoHs an' breakin a hand - again - Ah'm good."

He leant back, raising an eyebrow at his best friend. "Ah'm more worried 'bout y'all. Besides bein' stuck down here an' bored t' high hell, Darren, how're y' doin'?" Just because he knew torture was a danger for the job Darren was in, didn't mean he could banish the sight of him being literally fried.

Darren shrugged again, "I'm dealing, I'm more pissed off about missing my honeymoon then anything else ... and the fact I can't even consumate my damned marriage right now," Darren did not want to go into what had happaned right now, "Do you know how Twitch is holding up?"

Jay gave Darren a flat look but left it. With a face as unreadable as his right now he couldn't see what was going on in his head but he could hazard a guess. "He's...patchwork, Ah guess is d' right way of puttin' it. But he's holdin' up. Been stitched back t'gether an' given hard meds from what Ah heard, but he sure as hell ain' pretty."

"Niether of us are, from what I heard, they did us over good," Darren poked the trolly, "So, what're you gonna do now, still wanna do teacher training?" He asked, desperate to change the subject.

"Yup. Looks like my app t' be d' music professor's goin' through, so Ah'm on a year's trainin' under Lorna an' den Ah'm Professor Jameson...well, non, Ah'm not a Jameson no more." His face lit up, happy to get Darren onto happier subjects. "Oh man, Ah didn' tell y', did Ah? Y' know mom and dad had dere fling an' me an' Jill were d' result?"

"Guess what, Mom's filin' for divorce from Jameson an' gettin' a pretty settlement outta it...an' guess who she's ridin' out with?"

"... Eddie's dad?" Darren snorted, "Oh man, that's like a lifetime movie right there! You okay with that though? How's things with you and Slick right now?"

"Oui, my dad too." Jay reminded him. "But yeah. Ever get d' idea your life's a movie? Still, if it means Ah never hafta put up wit' Jameson again...means my name's gonna change t' Brock though. Jeeesus...Ah'm gonna punt d' first kid who asks if Ah'm from Pokemon." He chuckled at his lame joke before shrugging. "Dunno, ain' been able to find him."

"When I'm better I'm gonna have to go beat some more shit outta the little punk," Darren growled, "he said he was gonna come see you ..."

"Eh, leave it, ami. If he ain't got d' balls den he ain't worth d' effort." Jay shrugged. "Ah had a chat wit' Dad, an' dat's all Ah really needed. Just ain' got d' energy for all d' grief holdin' a grudge'll cause." He paused, then grinned. "Hah, look at us, ami, we're all grown up, eh? Both graduated college, both over twenty...dis is scary."

"And married in my case," Darren nodded, "It's strange, now that it's all over huh?"

"Heh. Well, d' school part is, ami, Ah doubt anythin' else is." Jay smirked, taking a swig. "Y'all stayin' here or goin' back to SHIELD?" He really hoped his mutation was being nice enough to hide the hopeful note in his voice, but Darren did have his life after all.

"That depends, I expect Fury'll contact me soon to let me know either way, since my cover has been pretty much blown they might figure they don't need me here anymore," Darren said, sounding a little morose.

"...Oh man." Jay hadn't thought of that. "No, ami, he cain't just take y'all away from here, Ah mean...y' got family an'..." Yes he could. He played with the neck of his bottle, looking down at it. Xavier's without Darren? Well, it wasn't like he couldn't cope without him but...Darren was...well, a lot of complicated things to him...

He shook off the sudden heaviness that had fallen over them with an effort, smiling again and putting a hand on Darren's shoulder. "Well...Ah doubt he'll do anythin' for a while until shit's sorted, right? So let's try not t' think about it an' jus' enjoy d' here'n now."

"Yeah, not much they can do with me out of action like this," Darren shrugged, "so you're right, lets talk about something else yeah?"

"Yeah - Ah'm meant t' be here to make y'all feel better, not worse." Jay chuckled. "Y'know...Ah cain't believe y're married, Gede. You near had Mom sobbin' at d' weddin', an' dat was even wit' your taste in vows."

"There's nothing wrong with my vows," Darren said indignatly, "... your mom was really crying thought? She barely knows me."

"Nope, nothin' at all, though Ah'm pretty sure most people don' include d' Borg or a sub-clause dat allows for shotguns if d' other half becomes a zombie, ami." He grinned innocently. "Guess people overlook dat part of a relationship. She knows y' well enough, and you're my best mate...dat an' d' sight of me in a tux nearly made her faint. She wants me married, dude. Me."

Darren laughed, "Dude, she does know you're gay right?"

"Oui. She meant one of dem gay marraige things. Ah didn't have d' heart to tell her Ah'm poly." Jay chuckled. "It's nice she's from deep Georgia an' supportive of d' gay, Ah ain' givin' her a heart attack an' tellin' her dat d' only marraige Ah could be in's a Mormon one."

Darren laughed again, "Awww, well who knows, maybe you can foc her off by telling her that maybe one day you'll addopt?"

"...Darren, d' idea of me with a child is a terrifyin' one dat even my own mother don' want t' accomadate." Jay laughed. "Can you imagine any child Ah have any form of solid influence over? Seriously?"

"I dunno, you could be uncle Jay one day?" Darren suggested, "or you will if my mom has her way."

"Hah...y' serious?" Jay paused in the act of taking a swig, his hat sliding to one side slightly as he thought about it. "...Think Ah could live wit' dat, oui..."

"Well, maybe, in the future," Darren shrugged, "maybe."