Ducking and Covering (Ferris)

Had Jesse come across Ferris before his run in with M.S.A.D., he might have been more inclined to be a gigantic dick to him. Back then he had been quick to anger with or without provoking, something he had been reluctant to admit made him more like his father than made him comfortable. Just another thing he had to deal with, and he wanted to do it sooner rather than later.

That involved actually trying to be civilized. Even to the people behind the cafeteria counter.

The blond boy tried not to frown when the man answered him, and chose to keep his distance as he went to check out the coolers. Just because he was trying to be sort-of-nice didn't mean he was willing to trust him.

"O...kay?" Jesse leaned on the counter and fingered a small leather band around his wrist as he waited. A small part of him wanted to turn tail, gather up his stuff, and get the hell out of there before the older man came back, but he forced himself to stay. If nothing else, it could serve as a small victory to report in his sessions with the school shrink. He handled himself well in a social situation with an adult. Yeah. He could do this without getting nervous, or resorting to biting comments.

When the older man returned, Jesse was about to dig out his wallet when the proposal was offered. For a moment his green eyes clouded with doubt. This guy had no reason to be nice to him, yet here he was doing just that. "Uhh... okay." Gingerly he took the bottle, careful not to touch his hand. "Yeah, I can keep a secret." He shrugged. "It's not like being out of water is gonna kill anyone." Unlike some secrets he'd rather not discuss. "But... yeah. Thanks." He was still so out of touch with what could be called 'normal' social practices, he had no idea what to do now. Well, beyond running away, but he was trying.

"... What're you reading?" That was social, right?

Honestly, Jesse had done the dark hair thing. Of course, that had been under orders (stupid orders), and it hadn’t been black, thank you, but a dark brown he’d hated. Currently, his hair was as close to its’ natural color than it had been in years. It was shocking it was even still alive after he’d bleached it so many times. Now he just looked like a punk, rather than that sad, crappy emo look so many of his fellow students tried to pull off. Gross. Besides, his piercings made statements. Most of them being along the lines of teenage rebellion, but hey, who really cared, right?

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the little reference to those idiotic internet meme things, instead simply shrugging. “Whatever. It’s not like I’m telling.” He didn’t care enough to even think about it, and even if he did choose to tell someone about it, he doubted anyone else would care, either. No one was dying from dehydration or anything, they weren’t in freaking Africa.

The blond teenager had spent enough time with adults who knew the art of lying (not to mention his bastard father excelled at it), and he could tell that the older man was on the verge of it. It wasn’t just being meta that made Jesse’s lie detectors sharp, but rather growing up with a lawyer for a father, and living with a group of, well... gifted liars after he’d run away from Hammel. He also had a talent for lying himself, something he’d been trying to shed himself of lately. It was a hard habit to break, and stranger to think that he didn’t need to rely on lies anymore.

He gave him a look at the answer he got, but at least he wasn’t lying. In fact, the tablet in the book trick? Pretty great, as far as adults went. He’d have to try it. Maybe in college, if he ever made it that far. He was still trying to toe the line of good behavior here. “I have no idea what the hell Lego has to do with it, but the tablet trick isn’t half bad.” He didn’t really care much about the comic on the screen. Nor was Ferris in danger of him telling anyone that, either.

This wasn’t going terribly. He wasn’t being scowled at, or looked at with big, scared eyes. Or ignored, though he didn’t mind that one as much. As for the questions, he cocked his head slightly, letting his bangs slide out of his face. “Jesse. And you could say that.” Of course, his education at the hands of Hammel had been significantly shorter than his teachings outside of the school. “Not much advice I’m qualified to give.” Another shrug as he toyed with the cap of the water bottle. “I just started too. Kind of.” He scuffed the floor with his foot, dropping his gaze for a moment. “Just, uhh... avoid a goth kid that likes taking money for doing stupid things, and his sidekick. He tends to set stuff on fire.” He was also planning on avoiding the hell out of the two of them, but for different reasons. “What do you even do here? Besides fail at stocking?” He honestly wasn’t trying to be sarcastic. He was trying to be friendly, but it was usually hard to tell if it was working or not. Oh well. If it didn’t work, he could just erase Ferris’ memories of the encounter and leave. Because that was the solution to everything.

Bristly was definitely one word to describe the blond teenager. He was like that will just about everyone. Rare exceptions were possible, and becoming alarmingly frequent for his liking. Adult men, however? He was generally very careful around them, even now. No, he knew not everyone was out to get him, or something equally bad, but he still watched his step and tried to keep them at a distance. Ferris didn’t seem all that threatening now, but he wasn’t going to take chances.

“... Oh.” Wanting Legos as an adult was decidedly weird, but to each their own, he supposed. After all, he’d been into gunplay and German and all kinds of activities that probably hadn’t been great for his teenage development. He was going to ignore that, then. “So why don’t you just wreck more books?” It seemed logical to him. Then again, Jesse had learned a thing or two about stealth over the past few years. If you were going to do something like this, why not go all the way? “No one around here’s sharp enough to actually notice. You’re probably safe.” Unless Dr. Neville or Dr. Campbell was watching, but they were just weird.

Without his little protective shield between him and Ferris, Jesse was the smallest bit more nervous. He didn’t like being studied. As a coping mechanism, he sank his teeth into his bottom lip and let them click against his lip ring. He had no idea why it was a comforting feeling, but it was.

At least he had been honest in his warnings. Avoiding Vincent Verarx and Sam Rixon were vital for any normal staff member, or student that was unwilling to get tangled up in their antics. He had his own reasons for avoiding them, and it had nothing to do with their antics. While he was fairly sure that Verax had gotten his fill of revenge months ago, who knew if he’d actually remember it? The guy had the memory of a goldfish. And Rixon was just... unpredictable. If Ferris wanted to remain any kind of sane, he’d avoid the hell out of those two.

“Good. They both have a few screws loose.” Sure, he did too, but at least he could work at looking normal on the surface. Sort of.

Jesse blinked when Ferris started laughing. Keeping himself in place instead of bolting like a scared rabbit took a surprising amount of effort. Truthfully, had he stayed at Hammel instead of running away, he probably would have been among those that give him dirty looks. He still loved pizza, but Gabriel had also opened him up to a whole new world of tastes. The absence of crappy, grease filled food at Hammel wouldn’t bother him much. “Oh,” he said again. “That’s stupid, but that’s America for you.” The reputation they were earning from the rest of the world really wasn’t that far off from reality.

He hadn’t expected to be asked questions himself, so when Ferris posed the question he just looked at him. His mind went blank for a moment. What did he do here? “Go to class... like a good student.” The look in his eyes said otherwise. ... Screw it. Telling that truth was something he’d just have to suck up and get used to. “Not just class. Therapy sessions, too. I fell in with a bad crowd.” That was putting it lightly, and his discomfort was evident in his squirming. “I’m probably one of the students everyone else warns staff members about.” His tone was almost resigned over that. Like he didn’t actually like that fact. And he really didn’t. At one time he would have gotten a perverse delight from it. Now? It made him feel a little dirty.

It was actually quite difficult to picture life as a child without things you wanted. For Jesse, his childhood before Hammel hadn’t wanted for anything. His home had been nothing short of pretentious, with his father happy to invest money into anything that looked like it could raise his status. His children had been presented with the latest in technology, usually by way of gaming systems or advanced toys. Jesse hadn’t known what it was to grown up without being surrounded by ridiculous things he might not have ever needed, but he’d certainly wanted. Now he thought about it, his father had probably thought that by throwing expensive things at his kids, he wouldn’t have to do things like spend time with them. It was no small wonder that Jesse felt zero connection with the man. The only real attention he’d been paid had been negative attention, unless he had been showing off his offspring to colleagues. Oddly enough, even with all that, Jesse knew damn well he’d been treated at least a little better than his older brother. When Keith had done stupid things and made black marks on his ‘happy’ family, their father had just started pushing Jesse to excel at school, at track meets, anything he could.

Hammel had honestly been a Godsend.

“Nothing good is easy,” the blond grumbled, mostly to be difficult. Slipping too far into this ‘I’m a good guy now’ thing wasn’t something he was ready for. Of course, he realized too late that he was right. Coming back and trying to behave wasn’t easy either, even if it was supposed to be a good thing. Still, when Ferris flipped the thing around to show off the cord, the teenager just looked at it passively. It wasn’t that exciting. “Enjoy getting busted, then. If anyone actually looks.” Not that anyone would care all that much about what anyone behind the counter was doing. He didn’t. (Granted, he tried to make it look like he didn’t care about anything.)

At the mention of the fire alarm, Jesse’s gaze flicked to the red bell on the wall. It was true, it hadn’t. “Either that or he’s off smoking weed.” Jesse might have been a smoker, but he had no love for the mind altering substance he knew the pyro had been into. At least, he had been, a few years ago. Who knew? People changed. Not that he wanted to come close enough to the pyro to find out. It would probably end as well as his encounter with the goth boy had, and he wasn’t looking forward to a repeat, no matter how much he might deserve it.

It was hard to say if being able to go home every day would have helped Jesse or not. He couldn’t be paid enough to live under the same roof as his father again, and he probably would have been more inclined to rebel. Sometimes, when he really thought about it, he wondered if that had been his main motivation behind running away from Hammel and working under his mentor and his group. He supposed it could be true, but there had been more to it. Namely, that Gabriel had treated him like an equal most of the time, and he’d trusted him. Going home every night... he very well could have ended up like his older brother instead.

Or scrambled his father’s memories beyond repair in an effort to escape him. It was a toss up.

Jesse rolled his eyes at the comment about the food. “Anyone that complains should just get the Mom speech about how there are starving kids in Africa, or something.” Mostly to get them to shut up. Jesse couldn’t stand whining, and he had no idea how adults dealt with it.

After he’d admitted to therapy sessions, Jesse shot Ferris a look that seemed to dare him to say anything about it. He wasn’t fond of people knowing, but considering it was such a big part of why he’d come back in the first place... it seemed important, somehow. Dr. Neville and Fiona kept telling him that it wasn’t anything to be ashamed of, and he wasn’t. Not really. More irritated that it was needed in the first place. Unlike his trainer, he didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Coming back, dealing with everything that went along with running away, playing happy family with a meta-supremacy group, and coming back again. He didn’t see the courage or whatever label anyone wanted to stick on it. He saw it as coming back with his tail between his legs.

It was his turn to snort now. “Right. No one warned you about Verax, sure.” He knew the Goth kid had a solid reputation among the staff, and he would have thought a warning would come along with any new employee’s paperwork. Him, too. Maybe everyone had more faith in him than he thought he deserved. That wasn’t a good thought. “Maybe you haven’t done anything to deserve it, then.” He tried hard to look like he was capable of something bad, but even that was starting to wane. The wind was just gone from his sails in that sense. Maybe therapy was helping.

Jesse did scowl a little at the smile Ferris offered. He didn’t know what kind of impression he wanted to make anymore. He’d become so used to being guarded and antagonistic. In trying to come back now, he knew what was expected to allow him to stay. It just felt odd... like acting. While that was something he’d been taught how to do quite well, doing it full time was hard. He felt fake, all the time. Maybe it would pass with time, he didn’t know.

He did look a touch surprised at what Ferris said next, however. He hadn’t run for a long time, and he missed it. His conditioning had probably got to hell, though part of that would have had to do with being shot in the Hammel vs. M.S.A.D. scuffle. He’d tried joining the track team when he’d been forced into a human high school, but it hadn’t lasted long before he’d run away from that, too. “I ran track,” he admitted. “And cross country stuff. Before I came to Hammel, and... before I left.” Admitting to running at a human school was just begging for more questions, so he left it out. “Haven’t done it for a long time.” Unconsciously, the hand holding the water bottle dropped down against his abdomen. “Why’d you even ask that?” It wasn’t something he thought was obvious. Apparently, people were more observant that he wanted to give credit for. Or at least Ferris was. Weird.

Jesse had a bit of a distaste for most drugs. Most of that had to do with his older brother’s decision to use them to escape. He knew the desire to escape life at times, but there were better ways to do it. Of course, he’d learned all about alcohol, especially in recent years, and had tried to keep a steady supply of cigarettes on hand. They were one of the few things that calmed his nerves now. Funny, it had started as teenage rebellion, and now it was more of a coping mechanism.

At least he and Ferris were on the same page regarding whining and eating. “Doesn’t work here. They’ll just go pig out at the vending machines, or go downtown.” How nice it would be to have that freedom back again. Jesse knew damn well that his probation was for his own good, but that didn’t stop him from sulking about it every so often, and wishing for that freedom back. Maybe he’d appreciate it more this time around, and not abuse it.

It still struck him as strange that older employees didn’t warn newer ones about certain students. Of course, he would probably be roped into that warning now. The thought made him want to go and dry heave. Sure, he’d been bad, but to be roped into the same warning as Vincent Verax and Sam Rixon? Ugh. They weren’t even close. “Yeah, well, I warned you now.” Maybe that would count for something later, especially if Verax was doing something particularly offensive. Like running around without his pants. Again.

The blond gave Ferris a dirty look at the existing comment. At one point, yes, it would have been the perfect reason to mouth off to him. Now... it seemed like a really petty reason to be a dick to someone. “Not right now it isn’t.” And then he did something unexpected. For some reason it had struck him as funny, and he was actually smirking. It was only a small, half smirk, but it was there. Alert the media, Jesse Adams just almost smiled at something.

Being unsocial since coming back to Hammel, had hindered his perception of things and people. He hadn’t really understood what Ferris was saying until it was too late and he’d officially made an ass of himself. “Oh,” he said simply, looking irritated. “I don’t have concentration issues.” If he was antsy, it was because he was like a caged dog. Wanting to be outside and running, and instead being confined. Not that he could blame anyone for that but himself. If he hadn’t wanted it, he would have continued to run, and wouldn’t have returned to Hammel.

“I might,” he admitted. If the track coach would even want him. If he even had that kind of talent anymore. He hadn’t run like that for a long time. The kitchen suggestion, however, was met with another dirty look. “Why would I want to do that? The kitchen’s for pansies.” He’d helped out in the compound kitchen a bit here and there, mostly with the twins because he’d liked them. And his mentor had taught him a few things. But in a place like Hammel? No way was he going to do that. Nor was he going to tell Dr. Neville about the offer, because he was sure the shrink would encourage it.