week 13 | monday night

[jackhole]

[ so!!! rhys has been in a weird mood all day. after talking to jack's clique (and his subsequent freak out), talking to dave and adrien and then finishing it all with yuno, he's been through the wringer a little and now he's. conflicted.

oh boy is he conflicted.

he's sitting on their bed, legs crossed under him and wearing jack's stupid sweater because he still hasn't given it back since the moment he borrowed it. it's his now, jack. it's his. the thing is it gives him an odd sort of comfort when he's still so... fragile, to put it simply, because jack is here and jack's not leaving and if rhys keeps the sweater jack definitely won't leave -- that's how he's parsing it through in his brain. his fingers thumb at the edges of his sleeves as he curls and uncurls his hands over the surprisingly soft fabric and after a moment, he slowly slides to lay on his side, hugging himself from his curled up position on the bed.

after a bit of silence, rhys will finally call out to jack the question that's on his mind. ]

Jack... what do you know about the aliens?

Comments

[refactor]

[ It's not what Jack expects when Rhys brings it up, but of course Jack's priorities had always been different. He was always searching for facts, for the advantage he'd needed to take the aliens out, but... The people themselves? They were almost irrelevant to him. It wasn't as if he blamed them, and in fact, Jack actually speaks to that surprisingly quickly. ]

Has nothing to do with the kind of person you are, kiddo. I mean... Always figured it was just strategic for those assholes. They were hiding where they thought people wouldn't look. Just-- Well, it was just shit luck.

[ ...But Jack never had any hesitation in killing them either. He'd thought that was the only thing he could do until Elizabeth's trial had proven otherwise. It's why he'd tried to goad her into drinking that poison. If she was infected, she needed to die. It was that simple for Jack, and the only person that had even slightly shifted for was Rhys himself. Yet even so, that was only because of how their own feelings had tangled into things far more than what Rhys had been hiding inside of him.

Jack pauses and looks to the drawing on the table that he's been working so dutifully on, and he spins the pencil around his thumb idly. He seems to think something over for a few moments, but then nods, though he doesn't look to Rhys. ]

Look, you didn't deserve it, and they didn't either. I'm the one that was supposed to be friggin' hunting 'em down, so... Not their fault. I mean, if it was, you think I would be-- [ He waves a hand vaguely here ] --with Liz?

[jackhole]

[ as jack talks, rhys realizes how much he wishes jack was over here, close and wrapped up in his space while rhys could deal with his feelings while using jack as some sort of anchor here. it's not a good thing at all, he knows, and he bites back the urge by grabbing a pillow and hugging it to him -- feigning being tired rather than, uh, anything weirder. ]

No, I don't think you would. Though that's what's bothering me, actually. Not -- not Liz, she's... whatever. It's fine. [ it's definitely not fine and it's apparent as he keeps talking. ] But the more I think about it...

[ he lets out a frustrated noise, immediately ditching the pillow to roll on his back and press the heels of his hands into his eyes. ]

Why isn't that happening with the rest of them? I died, no one cared, I get it. Fiona... well, I have to live with that. Adrien and Dave... no one came to them after? I don't get that. They didn't do anything wrong. People only talked to Elizabeth about how much she hurt and I--

[ a pause, his hands drop to fold over his chest and he frowns up at the ceiling. ]

I don't get it. What are the rest of us supposed to do? We didn't choose this.

[refactor]

[ It's a pretty terrible cover, really. Rhys, you're forgetting (or, to be fair, maybe simply don't know) that Jack is just as clingy a dude. Taking up that pillow and hugging it is a gesture that's fairly easy for Jack to read, so after another twirl of the pencil, it's sat down so that he can walk over to take a seat next to Rhys. ]

I mean, just being blunt here, pumpkin. You actually wanting my opinions, or are you wanting to just, I dunno, talk?

[ It sounds like Jack is being self-aware enough to know that he's going to give asshole answers to those questions, but it's not quite that. His opinions are definitely steeped in a bitter, paranoid view, so it might not be what Rhys wants to hear. Though really, Jack asks because he doesn't really have any answers for them. He can make his pessimistic guesses, apply the morality and the behavior that he's seen in his life to this, but ultimately, they'll still be that. Guesses. He's aware enough to know that guesses won't do very well to address questions like that. ]