Stupid Cold Vermont (Clement)

[Jesse Adams]

Despite being in Vermont for years now, Jesse was still a native to California. As such, once the cold weather started to hit, he was constantly bundled in warm items to brave the cooler temperatures. Even now, when it wasn’t that bad, he was usually in at least a hoodie, if not his jacket at well. Sometimes both.

What he had noticed was Clement going outside in little more than long sleeved shirts recently.

Sonofabitch kid either was immune to the cold, or didn’t...

He clued into the fact that he might not have warm things a little too late.

That was why when he’d emerged from his dorm to find Clement by the heater in the common room, he’d more or less dragged the kid out to his car with promises of ‘We are buying clothes. WARM clothes or else you’ll die from pneumonia or something.’

This was after he’d slapped one of his hoodies on Clement.

Now he was cruising in his Mustang to the mall, keeping an eye on Clement. “I meant it, Evans. We’re getting warm stuff. Vermont in the winter is fucking freezing.” No, he wasn’t going to be nice about it, because there was nothing nice about a Vermont winter.

At least his car handled okay in the snow. He was quietly dreading when it would actually start to fall, but at least he’d still have transport if he needed it. “How have you survived this long without warm stuff?”

[Clement Evans]

Angry. Clement was called that a lot, knew he was, was familiar with the hallmarks of other angry kids. Jesse was angry too. It was probably why they got along, a lot of the same things tended to piss them off. Angry kids could get mad at the strangest, tiniest things, but...

Okay, Jesse being angry that Clement didn't have any winter clothes was weird. Homework, Ty chewing his comforter, annoying assholes (aka the rest of the student population), being out of cigarettes, not being able to visit his dog, all were reasonable things for the older boy to be steamed about. Acting like it was Clement's fault for not having sweaters was... yes, weird. There was no other word for it. Clement had been trying to layer his t-shirts, wearing three at a time, and had kept going out of doors to a minimum, but he still had goosebumps by second period and had been hanging out by the pool just because it was warm.

So that day, after class, he'd used an old trick and turned on one of the stove burners in the common room on high, left it on without a pot for a minute, and turned it off, warming his hands over it. Then he'd gone to sit on the heater vent. His teeth had finally stopped chattering when a stormy blond had zipped a sweatshirt on him like a magic trick (which he'd drowned in, the hem down to his knees) and half carried him out to the parking lot and tossed him in a passenger seat. Clement had barely enough time to protest. By the time he'd gotten the hoodie on correctly (or as good as it was going to get) and realized he was in the nicest car he'd ever been in a hundred foot radius of in his life, they were halfway to the mall.

"It's not like I don't want winter shit," he said sullenly, trying to keep the sleeves of the sweatshirt above his hands. A losing battle. The thing was huge. He shrugged, still feeling belligerent. "...Someone was probably supposed to take me. I don't know. Maybe they forgot or were busy or something. It wasn't... that bad."

A lie, it had been freezing. But it wasn't like he could do anything about it except go with it. No use complaining.

At the mall in short order, Clement followed Jesse closely so he wouldn't lose him, while gawking at all the stores. He'd never been in a mall that wasn't plastered with Hangul and noisy with people speaking Korean before, full of Kpop music stores, imports from SoKo, and shops selling jjajangmyeon, soups, and bibimbap. It was more than disconcerting, and Clement didn't quite know what to do.

But he did know that if they were going to get winter clothes, Jesse would need one piece of information before he chose a store to save them both a lot of embarrassment.

"Wherever we go there has to be a boys' section. Like... kids."

Because those were the sizes that fit him.

Shut up.

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse’s Mustang was his pride, joy, and his baby all rolled into one. As such, he took ridiculously good care of the thing. It still didn’t have much for it mileage-wise, and both interior and exterior still looked like it had just rolled off the assembly line. He knew that would change when the snow really started to fall, and it was killing him that he wouldn’t have a nice safe, warm garage to stow the thing this year. Sigh. First world problems of teenage boys with money.

He didn’t really think about the fact that Clement had probably never seen a Mustang, let alone ridden in one, ever. He was more focused on the fact that the kid didn’t have winter stuff, and it was angering him for some ungodly reason. His jaw was clenched, as were his hands on the wheel as they drove.

“That’s bullshit if someone forgot to take you.” Especially with the weather changing so soon. “Not that it matters. You’re getting warm winter shit now, and you’re not arguing.” He didn’t even care that it was probably his credit card that was going to take the hit. The idea of Clement facing winter without the right gear was something that seriously angered him. It wasn’t even Clement he was mad at. He was just... mad.

Another one of those things about feelings he’d rather swallow down and ignore.

Once they were at the mall and parked, he stalked across the parking lot, keeping a close eye on Clement. He only stopped when they got to the directory. He’d been at the mall enough to know where most things were, but a refresher never hurt. It was then when he heard Clement’s advice.

... Yeah, he could see that. The kid was tiny. “Fine. We’ll do the department store. C’mon.” With that, he grabbed onto one sleeve and half led, half dragged Clement over to the department store at the other end of the mall. Once there, he quickly located the boys’ section and set him loose. “Go. Find stuff.”

[Clement Evans]

...Seriously, was he sitting on leather? Clement tentatively felt the seat. Holy shit. The only car he'd previously ever been in was his dad's extremely crappy 1986 Camry. The ride was almost unbearably smooth after a lifetime of public transportation. Clement didn't know the car was a Mustang, but he didn't know anything about cars. He just knew it was very nice, and had probably cost more than his father had made in his entire life. Before taxes.

The mall was warm. The smell of fried things hung in the air. There were a lot of stores Clement had never heard of, though for someone who didn't watch TV, go to movies, or have a computer, that wasn't hard. It was kind of weird, being around so much stuff. So much variety. It made him aware of all the... things in the world. Clement didn't care that he didn't have much, preferred it that way, but it was still sort of amazing to see all the material shit kids were after these days.

Then Jesse latched onto a hoodie sleeve, and since Clement had no idea what to do in a mall, he followed. His mood grew sourish as they walked past teens and into the children's departments.

Told to go find stuff, he didn't. Clement just stood there looking around, trying to take it all in. He didn't know what size he was (just that he was in boys), he didn't know what was warm, he had no idea.

"...What do I do?" he asked, genuinely puzzled. "What's... warm and... stuff? What do I need? I've... I've never done this before. My Dad just... threw a bag of shirts at me at home."

[Jesse Adams]

Yes, Clement. Leather. Gabriel had spared no expense when gifting his protege with the Mustang. At the time, Jesse had simply been pleased with the fact he had a car, and his dream car, no less. Now he was vividly aware of the freedoms it offered him, even now. He didn't have to wait in the cold for a bus that would probably be late, or deal with idiots. He could drive where he wanted, when he wanted, blast music, and not worry.

As they blew by the rest of the stores, Jesse didn't stop to look in any of the windows. They were on a mission, dammit, and he was sticking to it. If they had time afterwards, maybe he'd introduce Clement to some of the other stores. For now, it was winter clothes at the department store.

He hadn't predicted this. He'd expected to let Clement go and he'd wander around gathering things to try on. It was how his mom had taken to shopping with all three kids. Keith and Jesse had taken off, while Sasha had been guided by the hand into the girls' section. He really, really didn't want to have to do that with Clement. Huffing out his breath, he gave the kid a leveling look. "Most of this shit is winter gear. Anything with long sleeves or thick material." Much as he wanted to be irritated with Clement over his lack of knowledge, that particular temper didn't seem to flare. Instead, he was more annoyed by his treatment growing up. At least he'd had his mom to sort of counteract his father's bullshit. Clement... didn't. "Look, come here." The blond stalked over to the winter coat racks. "We'll start with coats and go from there." It seemed sensible to him, but he'd really never shopped for a kid before. This was... weird.

[Clement Evans]

In a way, graduating when he was twenty was almost a boon for him. By then, Clement figured he have saved enough from working to have something of a life, three extra years of savings. There was no way he'd have a car like Jesse had (or wanted one, what would he do with a car that had leather in it?) but he was pretty sure he'd have a car. And that was way more than he thought he'd have at twenty back in Cali.

...Not that this car Jesse had wasn't... well, fucking amazing. Clement knew next to nothing about cars, and yet he was impressed with it. It also told him how much the older kid loved his dog. There was no way in hell Clement would let an animal ride in a car like this, let alone a giant drooly one Jesse had said Gambit was.

As much as Clement wanted to not stress Jesse out... he'd never been shopping before. Well, for clothes, anyway. Ajima had taken him along with her son, to the Korean grocers, and a few times to the big mall in Koreatown when the import shops got in things she wanted.

Faced with a giant space filled with nothing but clothes, Clement felt... intimidated. How was he supposed to know what to pick? What would last? What was a good deal? Clement had never worn anything warmer than the cheap windbreakers Phil brought back from the Goodwill that always had broken zippers. Or, well, warmer than the sweatshirt he was wearing now, really. If he was shopping for summer stuff, that was one thing, but... Clement had never worn winter clothes before. It was all completely out of his realm of experience.

So when Jesse gave him the annoyed look, Clement blushed a little. But thankfully the blond decided to just pick a direction and he gratefully followed. At the racks of coats... Clement's eyebrows rose. There were a ton of different styles, different materials. How did anyone pick? Clement didn't know his size, but he figured he ought to start there. Based on sleeve length, he just took a coat off the rack and tried it on. Too big. Squinting at the size on the tag, he tried the next one down till he found what fit, and then kept going till he got to the size that fit. Thinking, he went the next one up. He wasn't going to stay shrimpy forever, and if he got more heavy stuff the coat would have to go over it.

Okay, he had to think. He had to get something that could be washed in a washing machine. Something that had a hood, and a high collar. Something that was... on the long side. Finally, he came to a dark blue coat that fit all his requirements, and better yet, fit him. Looking at the tag, he paled. It wouldn't wipe out all of his stipend, but it would take most of it. Jesus.

[Jesse Adams]

When the time came for Clement to shop for a car, Jesse was willing to help him. He’d had an interest in them since he was a kid, and he could easily help with negotiations on cost. He could at least help him get something that wasn’t going to break down two blocks away, or keep him from getting ripped off.

Jesse was trying not to stress, but Clement wasn’t making it easy. He’d expected the trip to be easier than this, but now he had been proven wrong, well... he didn’t know how to deal with it. He had completely expected Clement to be self-reliant. Well, apparently not. He’d have to deal with it.

He watched as Clement looked over the coats, leaning against a pillar as he waited. None of them on the rack would be a bad choice, being that they were all sufficiently warm. It was just the wait for him to choose one. Once he had, Jesse reached over to pull the coat into his own arms, not even bothering to check the tag. “Good start. I’m paying for this. We still have to find sweaters and... why are you looking at me like that?” He didn’t like the look the kid was giving him, but he chose to ignore it. “Come on.” He turned his back to start towards the sweaters, but he didn’t get far.

Something with the physical strength of a wet tissue could sometimes take you by surprise. Such was the case when Jesse found himself kissing the floor, and Clement on his back trying to take back the coat. “Jesus Christ Evans, get off.” He didn’t know what the problem was, but it probably didn’t warrant tackling.

[Clement Evans]

With the car Jesse drove, when the time came Clement might have trouble believing he could pick out cars that cost six grand or less with any distinction.

Anyway.

Clement was also trying not to stress, and he was additionally trying not to stress out Jesse since he'd been nice enough to take him. Neither part was working. Shrugging the coat off, he started to fold it up over an arm when it was pulled right out of his hands. Where had Jesse even come from? Clement thought he'd... walked off or something. And then he was talking about paying. What? Paying? Clement just blinked at him, not understanding. He had a stipend. Sure it wasn't big or anything, but he could pay for his own clothes, Jesse.

And then the fucktard just walked off.

HELL no.

Forgetting he was in a store, in a public place, in a store section that had parents and children, Clement took two running steps and flung himself at the older boy's back.

Okay, he didn't expect Jesse to faceplant, but he used the opportunity to try to grab the coat. Didn't work. Why was Jesse so possessive of it? To the get off he just squirmed further up the boy's back and pulled harder. Nothing. Dammit.

Rolling off, Clement stood over him, hands on hips, blushing and uncomfortable. "I have a stipend. Government money. For clothes. You don't have to spend your stuff on my stuff."

[Jesse Adams]

For Clement’s information, he could totally help pick out a car in his eventual price range. Really.

Jesse couldn’t understand Clement’s distress over his offer to pay for the damn coat. He knew he had a stipend thing, fine. But the coat would take up a major chunk of it, and they still had other things to get. It was one item, and he honestly didn’t care. So long as the kid was warm.

So when Clement tried to reach around and pull it away from him, he held tight until Clement gave up and got off of him. In response to the hands on hips and staring down at him, Jesse tucked the coat further underneath him just in case Clement tried anything else. Then he just shrugged. “Yeah, you do. And you still have to buy sweaters and stuff. The coat alone is probably going to wipe most of it out. Just suck it up and be grateful, kid.” With that, he stood up and kept the coat close to him. Clement wasn’t winning this one. “C’mon. We’re looking for sweaters. Please tell me someone at least got you snow boots.” If not, he knew where they were going in the store next.

[Clement Evans]

Clement still didn't see Jesse's general annoyance with him as anything protective, so why the guy would want to pay for a coat was beyond him. Yeah, he'd dragged him out shopping for winter clothes, which was really nice of him, but... okay, he had no idea why Jesse had taken him out. It wasn't his job or anything. But they were... friends, right? And friends did stuff like that. But paying for a coat, the most expensive piece of clothing Clement had ever even tried on, that went... well, way past friends. Clement still didn't realize what seemed incredibly expensive to him wasn't for some people. And that one of those people was Jesse. He had the ubercar, but it had been a present.

Giving the older blond the most WTF look he could muster, he finally blurted, "Why?"

So he'd be getting fewer sweaters or whatever. If he wore them over his t-shirts he could wear one a whole week. Or just do laundry more. Or hell, wear the coat inside. It didn't matter.

Irritated, he still followed Jesse to the next section of Boys. "Snow boots? They make boots just for snow?"

The only boots he was familiar with were the rubber ones for rain, and no one in his trailer park owned any.

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse had always protected in a gruff manner, with one small exception. His sister had never been subjected to his tough love type of protection had been his sister. Anyone else, he was more than happy to defend with a sharp tongue or his hands, if it came to it. Sasha... unless she was picked on at the playground, he had always been soft with. His annoyance with Clement was born mostly out of an annoyance with the people that were supposed to be looking after him. He didn't mean to be annoyed with the kid, but he couldn't help it. Now he was stuck in protective mode, and that involved paying for the coat. Like it or not, Clement. He wasn't going to budge on it.

"Because I can," he all but snapped before hugging the coat tighter to his body. Clement could try to get it back, but the chances of it working were fairly low. "Just be grateful, kid. Jesus." And with that, he was off to the sweater racks.

He would have been happy to let Clement go free to pick out sweatshirts and hoodies and sweaters all he wanted, but the question about the boots once again floored him. "... Yes. Insulated, warm things. You can't run around in sneakers all winter." Looks like he knew where they were going after sweaters.

[Clement Evans]

He would love to be grateful, but coats were expensive! Clement didn't know Jesse had a pair of credit cards hooked to fat accounts, but even if he had, Jesse ought to spend the money on himself. For his own clothes and stuff. He'd go to college soon, wouldn't he? And he had to buy gas. Stuff for his dog and Ty. Spreading his hands out when the blond turned to stalk off to god knew where in a pose of 'what is my life even', Clement blew out a breath and followed.

Oh. It just hit him. Shoes had been the most expensive thing he'd gotten when Wayne had stopped during their trip from California to get him basics. Were boots going to be like the coat? "How much do boots cost?"

Once into the right part of the store, he looked around, seeing blobs of color swim in and out of half-focus. Sweaters, sweatshirts, fleece things, thick shirts... how did anyone pick? If Jesse really was paying for the coat, he had a bigger budget, but did he just find the warmest, thickest thing or try for layers? And... this was just top stuff.

"What do you do if your legs're cold?"

[Jesse Adams]

Had he asked, Jesse would have told him. At least about the credit card linked so his so called 'legitimate' account. The one his dad had yet to cut off, being that it was never declined. He could handle paying for Clement's stuff. He'd just think of it as a middle finger to both his dad and the government, with their stupid little stipend thing that apparently wasn't much good for anything. He could handle buying the coat and still have a lot of room left over to deal with his own stuff. Clement didn't need to worry.

"I don't know how much boots cost. Good ones, probably around sixty, seventy bucks?" Maybe. It had been a long time since he'd dealt with kid's stuff for shopping. Things could have changed.

He waited for Clement to go in a direction. Any direction. Hell, just touch something. Anything. Before he just starting grabbing stuff for him to try on. They weren't leaving the store without a solid amount of winter gear. Then they'd probably play this game all over again in the summer.

"You wear sweatpants. Or snowpants. Or... I don't know. Long underwear." That was something he hadn't even thought about since he was a kid, and his mother had forced him into getting a pair for camping trips with his friends to keep him warm. They'd been the dorkiest things he'd ever owned, but she'd had a point. They'd been warm. "Look, do I have to start getting stuff for you to try on, or are you picking yourself?" Just standing around was getting them nowhere.

[Clement Evans]

It was probably a good thing Clement hadn't asked. The whole idea of a kid like him (an older one, but still another student) being that well off would have blown his mind. Clement still thought ten bucks was a lot of money. So when he heard how much boots cost... he started getting a headache. If winter stuff was this expensive, why wasn't the stipend more? Didn't the state of Vermont know? Or were they shopping in a really expensive store? He didn't know. His ignorance was making him angry.

"Fuck," he whispered as he rubbed his temples. This whole shopping thing was ridiculous. Another student was paying for something the government had not given him enough money for when they were providing for 'necessities'... and he still had things to get and had no idea what to choose and was with someone who was zero help in the 'this is what you do' department but got full marks in the 'malevolent glaring' section.

"Snowpants? There's pants for snow? What, are there snow underpants and snow socks and snow shirts too? And... what is long underwear? Like... underwear with legs like pants?" And then something he hadn't considered till now. "How much colder is it gonna get here? Are... lots of clothes better or just one layer of really thick stuff?" He spread his hands, frustrated and embarrassed, and then ran them through his already sticky-uppy hair. "I... I'm sorry, okay? I can't... I... I don't know how to do this."

Maybe he ought to go with a teacher or something. Stop wasting Jesse's time.

[Jesse Adams]

Even without his father's money, Jesse would have had his fund from Gabriel. And vice versa, though he imagined that eventually his father would probably cut him off if he continued his radio silence. Or refused to go home, if his father actually bothered to try to contact him. ... Like that would ever happen. Either way, yes, he was well off, and Clement was just going to have to suck it up. He had no problem throwing whatever the stipend didn't cover on his credit card.

Jesse paused in his movements when he heard Clement's whisper. Coupled with his little tirade... Jesse was actually starting to feel a little guilty. He didn't know to deal with the fact that Clement didn't know what to do, mostly because he was so used to being set loose in a store by his mother, even before he was Clement's age. It was just... automatic, and he was forgetting that for Clement, it wasn't.

Jesus, why did this have to be so hard?

"Okay, okay." His hands came up in an effort to calm the kid. "Layers are usually better. Something about air between them making it warmer. It's gonna get colder than this, so please work with me here. I'll... try to help better, okay?" He didn't like this feeling guilty thing, and he didn't like the look Clement had on his face. Something had to give, and it looked like it was going to be him. It was probably a good thing, too. This way he could practice a little patience.