Cracked Veneer (closed)

[JD Paerson]

[Note that this thread will deal with mature subjects.]

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The Saturday after the sex ed seminar, JD finally emerged from his room of his own will. He'd spent an entire week on power probation and helping Dylan clean up around the school. Not to mention, of course, getting yelled at and scolded by various students, teachers, staff, and family members throughout the week. And, of course, the shouting match with Zac which ended their friendship.

He'd spent almost all of Friday in his room, leaving only to work with Dylan. He hadn't bothered to shave off the uneven stubble which was growing rather unattractively on his lip and chin, something he was usually quite meticulous about. But these days he couldn't bring himself to care.

What he knew now was that he needed to let off steam. And when he thought about who he could approach, the list was actually very short. Robbie and Zac weren't exactly his friends anymore. He might've talked to Jalen, but he was still too proud to want her to see him in this state. More and more, he started to think about Mia.

She'd been part of this whole mess. And she'd found a way to get over the whole thing. And she wouldn't care about whatever bad state he was in--she'd probably already seen him in a worse position. So he packed up his backpack and ducked out into the hallway, making his way downstairs to her room.

He pounded on her door and waited for her to open up. He was leaning up against the door frame as he stared down at the ground. Part of him could hardly believe what he was planning.

"Mia," he said, "I know you're there. Can we talk?" And if any of her roommates were around, well, they could just deal.

[Mia Keystone]

Mia had found a way to deal. It involved spending most of her time in her room testing out the magic dust she'd bought, and starting to sketch out ways she would either escape hammel, find Jonah, both of the above, or get a message out to Ginny. One involved more toads then she'd ever be able to get a hold of without a computer, and the others all counted on money. She had money, but she'd need more and without permission to leave the grounds it made it sort of hard to get into any ATMs like she was used to doing.

And when she left her room to pick up Kaylee for class, it was easy. Most students avoided her, because even though they knew her powers were suppressed, they also knew she had a mean right hook and a meaner tongue. Sure, students gave her lectures but she mostly just shut down and let her eyes glaze over until they gave up. And her parents? Well....

Still, that being said, it wasn't like she was exactly expecting people to bang her door down. When Jordan had tried, she'd told him flatly to go away. Not because she didn't want to see him, but because for a kid who was bullied enough as it is, being seen talking to her right now was a bad bad bad idea. Not that she told him her reasoning of course.

Recognising the voice (those three guys and her had had to have enough meetings for her to recognise Zac, Robbie and JD's voices with her eyes closed), she frowned, pulled herself up from her cross legged position and padded barefoot over to the door. Sure, she was in her version of pyjamas but that had stopped bothering her when she was seven.

Pulling the door open, she stuck her head out, confirmed it was, in fact, just JD and there were no teachers with him, and pulled the door fully ajar. "Where else would I be?" she asked flatly, one eyebrow raised. "You'd better come in then." Tilting her head in a well come on then, the short technopath closed the door as soon as the much taller speedster had entered, then crossed her arms.

"Not that its not nice, having gentleman callers and all," she said dryly, "But don't you have your dudes for talking and the like? What do you want?" It was a standard question, and one that pretty much anyone who got into her room was asked. Nothing personal, nothing hostile.

Because seriously, this was rather unexpected.

[JD Paerson]

JD was a bit surprised to see Mia in just her oversized shirt and underwear. He'd somehow forgotten that it was later in the day and that some people would be turning in. But so far he hadn't been yelled at, and she wasn't too upset that he'd stopped by, which was a good sign. He followed her inside and stood just inside the room as she shut the door.

"What dudes? You think people actually talk to me?" JD said with a frown, crossing his own arms in response to her position. "The only guys I ever hung out with were Zac and Robbie--and calling them 'guys' is pushing it anyway. Robbie's not talking to anyone, and Zac...we're not..." He struggled to find a way to say it that wouldn't make it seem like a big deal or anything. Because it wasn't a big deal. "We're not talking." Which was an understatement but got the point across.

"Look, I'm just here..." He sighed and put his hand on his head, then slid his backpack off and dropped it to the ground. The bottles inside clinked. "Sorry to bother you. I just don't really have anyone else to talk to or anything. A lot of people are kind of upset about the prank."

He was still standing, not feeling comfortable with sitting on any of the furniture or with just plopping onto the floor. But he started shifting his weight and reached into his bag. "You want a drink? I just kind of need to relax." He pulled out two bottles of beer. "Promise I didn't drug it or anything."

As he opened his own bottle, he nervously asked, "So. I didn't actually see the slide show or anything--I was out of the room. How many uh, like, which people were..." He trailed off. It was awkward asking if there had been any photos of him in the show, and he didn't want to seem either upset or narcissistic about it. But he did wonder. Maybe she'd catch the drift of the conversation anyway.

[Mia Keystone]

"That was who I meant," Mia pointed out, and frowned slightly when she heard there was trouble in paradise. That was a bit unfortunate... still, she hadn't asked them to do anything, it wasn't really her problem and, as she had made clear to Robbie, if they'd expected no backlash they were idiots.

"No kidding," the technopath snorted, relaxing and falling back onto her bed. "I mean, I saw it coming but I didn't expect people who had nothing to do with it to stick their two cents in." The technopath was pretty used to a sort of mutual dislike from her fellow students, but these guys weren't. It took some getting used to. With one foot she gestured to her desk chair. "I feel sorry for you if I'm your only option," she smirked, but then shrugged. "Sit on down, I guess."

Her expression brightened visibly at the introduction of beer, and she twisted off her cap and had managed to chug down about half before JD mentioned not druggig it. Yes, she too needed to unwind. "Pity," she looked at the bottle curiously. "I've got some pixie dust, if you wanna try the whole drug thing." The whole not being able to leave the grounds meant Mia had been sober for over a week now. It was not fun.

Still, given her rather small stature and her rather fast metabolism, Mia actually cracked a grin, then snorted a laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry, superman," she grinned, taking another swig, "you and that blonde didn't make the final cut. Hope you won't be too disappointed. Though it would have answered the whole are you a virgin thing that's been floating around."

[JD Paerson]

He took a seat in the desk chair, slowly settling into it. It didn't look meant to support someone who weighed more than a bag of frozen peas. "Thanks," he said begrudgingly. "I don't care so much about the other people in the school, really. I've never gotten along well with most of them. But at least before there were some people who didn't hate me." He rolled his eyes. "Feels like the whole school's in the middle of a huge tantrum."

He watched with some amazement as she chugged the beer. He'd gone through a fair amount of his bottle as well, but not in one gulp. But then, it wasn't like he got drunk on a regular basis. This was stuff he'd had for a while, stashed away for a rainy day. "No thanks, I never liked the idea of drugs. That stuff messes up your head, permanently."

JD was irritated by her use of his nickname, not to mention some of the assumptions she was making. "What's with the nicknames, shorty? And as for the 'virgin' bit, I thought the only person who was spouting that was Zac LaDouche, and everyone knows not to listen to him. Right?" He cocked his eyebrow and took another swig of the beer. "I guess I should be relieved that you didn't make a point of humiliating me." It was a bit of a jump, though, for her to have assumed that he was with Jalen. They hadn't even spent that much time together. But that didn't stop some people.

"Want another?" JD asked when he noticed her bottle was looking low. "Feel free. I guess you deserve it, since I'm the one here dumping on you."

Sitting forward in his chair, he awkwardly passed his empty beer bottle from hand to hand. "Hey, Mia?" he asked slowly. "Do you...have you..." Grimacing, he scratched the back of his head. "Look, I know we're not close or anything, but I just..." And, of course, when the moment came, he was chickening out. Because, just like he'd always known, he was a coward.

[Mia Keystone]

"They'll get over it," Mia scowled. "Bunch'a babies. It was just sex." A school-wide tantrum kind of summed it up perfectly though; people just getting all caught up and beating it up into a huge issue. Mountains out of mole-hills sort of thing. "Anyway, people who get angry over this ain't worth the time it takes to log into your computer."

Her face darkened and she pushed herself to her feet, standing only a few inches over JD. "What, you saying my head's messed up?" the technopath demanded, head thrust forward. "That what you're saying, huh? Huh?" then she flopped back onto her bed and laughed softly to herself. "Just messing with you. Different strokes for different folks."

He didn't like being called superman? Superman was fucking badass. Unlike shorty. "You want me to think of some new ones? Because I am a lot more creative then Zac-dooshenozzle, which you'll find out if you call me shorty again." Still, props to him for standing up (figuratively) to her; Mia hadn't thought he had that in him. "Was nothing personal," she grinned, "Just looking for the shock factor. Mr and Miss America don't really have the same impact as a bit of boy on boy action."

Not needing to be told twice Mia lent forward and grabbed for another bottle, the neck of her shirt hanging forward. Twisting the top off, she finished off the last dregs and cast aside the old bottle for her new one, widening her eyes in a what do you want expression as JD started his question. "Yeah?"

If there was a point to JD's speech, Mia couldn't find it. "Do I have what? The photos? Because they were confiscated, along with like, all my stuff." She continued to work on her beer, her eyebrows raised. "I'm having World of Warcraft withdrawals. It's a real thing."

[JD Paerson]

JD silently agreed with Mia's analysis about the people upset over the prank. Well...partially. There were some people whose opinion he cared about. But it wasn't worth commenting over.

He looked up the short space when Mia attempted to tower over him. For someone that tiny and insignificant, she was strangely terrifying when she glared. But JD just stared at her for a moment, hands clenched, until she backed away. Even then he didn't fully let himself relax. "Yeah, sure. Glad you don't mind," he said slightly nervously.

"Fine, no nicknames for you. Just so long as we're on the same page." He raised his bottle in a salute, then took another drink. "Glad to know you don't actually have any qualms about anything. And I'm sure you don't feel any regret for anything you've done."

He stared at Mia as she grabbed the second beer. He was big enough that his own drink hadn't really affected him much...so far. So he reached down and grabbed a second bottle for himself.

JD rolled his eyes. "No, not the photos. Like I actually care about looking at everyone else in the school like that." He didn't believe the WoW comment, but chose not to say anything about it. Instead, he leaned forward again, elbows on knees, and said, "No, that's not what I was asking about." Looking up and trying to catch her eyes, he finally blurted it out. "Do you want to have sex?"

[Mia Keystone]

Her first instinct was to laugh, very loudly. It was too bizarre; Robbie she could sort of understand because he had at least showed interest before. JD had not, except maybe that brief moment of "everyone sucks" they'd shared at the Richmond party. But she hadn't thought that was enough to warrant this rather abrupt request.

The laughing suppressed, Mia put her beer down and glanced from it to JD with slight suspicion. "You were trying to get me relaxed, eh?" she smirked, and then finished off her bottle. "Won't lie, am a bit surprised," she said once she'd wiped her mouth. "I mean, apart from our moment of shared misanthropy, we don't talk. Even I think you need a lot more booze then this if you just want to fuck someone you hardly know."

Crossing bare legs, Mia stretched her head ideally and stood up. "So what's this all about? I'm not saying no, but I do sort of want to know what your deal is. Or, more beer. I haven't decided which yet."

[JD Paerson]

Yeah, okay, so she'd guessed it. And JD was surprised himself, when he really thought about it. Which was why he was trying not to think about any of this, for once, and just let things happen.

"Fine then, take some more," he said, passing her another bottle. "Hell, have the whole rest of it." And he dumped another seven bottles onto the floor. "Not like it's doing much good in my closet, like I said."

But he guessed she deserved an actual response to her question as well. "Honestly? I feel like everyone in the world sucks right now. And I'm not sure I really want to put up with them. So I figured I'd come to the other person in the school who shares that opinion. And I also figured it might be better if we did more than just sit awkwardly and whine about our problems."

It was a half-truth, at best, but it was all he had. Because he hadn't been willing to probe his reasons enough himself to find out why he really did want this. If he did want it.

[Mia Keystone]

"Aw," Mia pouted at JD, "Poor thing. People have always sucked. They always will. At least now you know." Falling back onto her bed, Mia rolled onto her side and propped her head up on one hand. "So you want to have angry misanthropic sex then?"

Well, it was a new one for someone to say that to her, even if that was sort of a driver with most of Mia's own sexual encounters. "And yeah, whining sucks. Come here then," she patted the mattress beside her. "Even with beer you gotta be a bit more charming then that, JD." Her mouth twisted a little, her lip rings tugging slightly. "Even with me."

Her sharp eyes flicked over the tall boy and she frowned. "Lose the duds, I'm at least sixty percent more naked then you are right now."

[JD Paerson]

JD rolled his eyes. "You don't have to put it like that. But yeah, sure. Whatever you want to call it." He himself would prefer not to have to call it anything.

Obediently he went and sat next to her on the bed. He downed the last of his drink and left the empty bottle on the desk. They could have a nice collection of empty beer bottles. Maybe play bowling or something.

"Fine, charming," he mumbled. "Uh, wow, Mia. Your eyes are very bright," he said, completely monotone. Then he sighed. "Look, I'm really bad at lying to people. I mean, yeah, you're pretty, but what do you want me to say? That you're so sweet, you're like an angel? Because I don't think I could say that seriously."

He pulled off his t-shirt and kicked off his shoes when she asked. "Maybe that's true, but I admit the view's been better on my end since you haven't got on the huge boots or scary make-up. Did anyone ever tell you how good you look when you aren't trying to terrify everyone?"

As he looked Mia over, he frowned. "What do you want me to say? I'm the first person to tell you I'm no good with words. If you want something from me, you should just ask."

[Mia Keystone]

"You're hopeless," Mia sighed, falling back onto the bed. "You don't need to try the stupid flattering shit. Do you not know how to be, well, sexy?" Clearly, she needed to give him lessons... She could do that. Grinning, the technopath shook her head. "My boots are bad ass, JD," she said seriously, then sat up and ran a hand up JD's arm.

"Being charming doesn't need to be nice," she said. "It's about making them like you, or want you." Straightening her back, Mia brushed her hair behind her ears and raised an eyebrow as she looked over him. "You get closer, and you look them in the eye,," she went on, demonstrating as she did, "Then, you make it a bit clearer."

Reaching for his belt, Mia couldn't help but think over how simple it was. She had figured out the formula for getting someone into bed when she was fifteen, and it really didn't take more then that. It was a series of logical steps that lead to the same outcome every time, with boys or girls. The belt was off quickly, and the technopath looked up with, one eyebrow raised. "You starting to get it?"

[JD Paerson]

Most girls, he had always felt, enjoyed being told that they were pretty or had good qualities. But it was just as well that Mia didn't need that, since he wasn't exactly sure he could pick out a lot of good qualities about her. "You only think your boots are badass because they make you taller than the average pygmy," he couldn't resist retorting.

He waited through Mia's "lesson," trying to get a feel for the way this situation was going to go. When she was practically on top of him, undoing his belt, he put a hand on her thigh.

"Yeah, I think I might be getting it now," he said as he sat up from his slouch and reached around to grab her waist under the shirt. He moved forward and put his mouth right next to her ear. "But if all you wanted was the physical part, all you needed to do was say so."


[Fade to Black]


Later, JD was lying on his back, one arm across his chest and the other hanging off the edge of the bed and trailing on the floor. He was staring up at the ceiling, trying to keep himself from saying something he knew would only come back to bite him.

Even so, he didn't have the best grip on his tongue all the time. "Is it always that..." he began, searching for a word. He let the sentence hang as he searched for an appropriate end.

"Empty," he finally decided on. Then he rolled out of bed, pulled on his clothes, and left, grabbing his bag but leaving the remaining beer as a sort of apology for bothering her.

[Mia Keystone]

"What else is there?" Mia asked, with genuine curiosity, but then there was no space for talking and she let him pull off her shirt.

[after fade]

Mia was on her front, head resting on her arm as she turned to watch JD as he stared at the roof of her room. This was always the awkward part; couldn't he just get up and leave? Or at least get coffee? Or leave?

"always so what?" Mia asked, frowning because it was obvious he was not about to say something like mind blowing or amazing which was ok, because that would have been a lie. It had just been sex.

The technopath didn't reply at first, just pulled the covers up as the speedster rolled out of bed and began dressing and did a few equations in her head, as well as stored away some things she'd learnt about JD's... well, moves. Her face did not so much as flicker as he left, and she reached down to grab a drink. "What the hell did he expect?" she asked her beer as she sat up and took a gulp. "Weirdo. Was like it's been every time."