[PRP] underground dawn (aleksy & jeremiah)

[azuredreams]

While Jeremiah could not abide by coffee, he could abide by getting certain snacks at what was probably the best kept secret in Ashdown. The best kept secret being a coffee shop that served what was likely the best coffee around and amazing muffins.

Muffins that Jeremiah was going to get his hands on.

Assuming they weren't out already.

Time was not his friend.

shibroswol

 

[shibrogane]

They were out.

Aleksy had the last half-dozen in his bag, a reusable recycled plastic thing printed over with flowers and bearing the legend You're beautiful/Don't change. He also had a cup of coffee, and a pissed-off expression on his face. "Mercer," he said. "You want to fill me in on where you've been? for the last two months? 'Cause it hasn't been at lunch."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

There were few things that could actually get Jeremiah to freeze and hearing Aleksy was one of them. At least, addressing him somewhat ... normally was.

He turned, blinking at the bag and did not miss the way the person at the counter was giving him the we're out of that thing you like sign. Aleksy having a bag gave him an inkling but he still couldn't quite form words.

"I wasn't-" he paused, took another breath. "I didn't know you were talking to me again." For anyone who knew Jeremiah they could see past the not-so-expressive face to see the guilt face he had going on. It was in the eyes, obviously.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Not talking to you?" Aleksy looked unimpressed. "Why the ******** wouldn't I be talking to you? Because you stood me up for lunch or because you haven't been repping in open world content?"

He seemed to realize these were very valid reasons to not be speaking to someone. He took an angry sip of his coffee and did not acknowledge this.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah's brain was probably going to break any second. Mostly because he was- Well, he had assumed that it was Aleksy but they hadn't confirmed and-

This was not the Aleksy he knew.

"... because I'm an idiot who has been swamped and forgot?" he tried instead (except he never did forget and swamped was rare). "Also I've been trying out a new build? Didn't want to-" His brain was breaking.

In the middle of a coffee shop with Aleksy Spektor drinking coffee angrily. Why was this not surprising?

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Aleksy scoffed. "Swamped." As if! Jeremiah delegated any of the really hairy stuff, and...

Aleksy's eyes (still solid black pupils) latched onto Jeremiah's right hand.

"Oh, ********," he said, eyebrows lifting in a very minuscule way before he turned on his heel and stomped out.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah fingers stretched reflexively in Aleksy's grip and- No, no.

"Bloody ******** hell," he said under his breath, moving after Aleksy stomped out. Jeremiah was moving after him, fingers still stretching in and out as he went to catch up. He wanted to reach out and grab his sleeve but stopped himself.

"Spektor-" Not right. "Aleksy-" Not right but closer. "I'm sorry, things have been ... different since December."

... and given his particular gifts, he was thinking Aleksy might've had a clue how different. Especially after touching him. It was not like he wasn't an open book for the right people.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Aleksy got partway down the street. Then he turned on his heel and, with the coffee-cup-holding-hand, pointed at Jeremiah. "If the scar bothered you so much, you could have said," he snapped. "No need to hide you did away with it! I am no delicate flower to need my feelings protected."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah stopped again. Okay, so maybe- Well, misreading situations was always a thing with Aleksy. He glanced down to his hand, his right, and then back up. What kind of scar was he supposed to even have?

"It wasn't on purpose," he said finally. "I wouldn't do that." Except that this was for something he did not even know about. His thumb brushed along his right hand like he would find the scar there suddenly. "Like I said, things have been different since December."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Bullshit," said Aleksy. "The only thing that's different is--"

He stopped talking. He lowered his hand. Then he said, "You're a pod person." Aleksy swore under his breath, the Russian words less angry and more resigned. "Like Finn and Tatya. Pod people."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah blinked a bit, a hand raised and smoothed across his face. Aleksy swearing was, oddly enough, comforting.

"I don't think that makes us pod people." His nose wrinkled up a bit before he sighed. "... but I suppose we are in a way." He wanted a drink and a muffin. That he had missed out on. "Can we talk? If that's alright with you?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Aleksy scowled. "I guess," he said, but it sounded clear he was not best pleased by this whole situation. Was everyone in his life replaced by weird beta-universe scrubs? At least the coffee shop wasn't far from his flower shop. (It was actually good business sense to stay close, okay, because he recommended the shop to people who wanted to bring food with their flowers.)

Once inside, he set his muffins down on the counter and started his routine of opening the shop for the day. "So? What do you want to say?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah followed along after Aleksy, comforted by the fact that the flower shop was not that far away. He lingered a moment at the door, long enough that Aleksy probably gave him one of those familiar get the ******** in here stares, before he moved inside.

He'd help with the routine without word, since it did not appear to be too much different than he remembered (those times that he had done so still fresh memories).

"If my lack of scar gave me away, I assume something gave Finn away. I also can't imagine Krasnya keeping a secret from you." Jeremiah paused in his motions, raking a hand through his hair. "I honestly don't know what I want to say other than ... talk. It's been a while for me and there aren't many I actively enjoy verbally sparring with."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Finn gave himself away," said Aleksy. "As he was astonished by the presence of my tits." Aleksy pulled up his shirt to show his binder, the subtle curve of his chest a dead giveaway that there were still handfuls of fat where there shouldn't be any. "And my sister is suddenly almost a decade younger than she should be. I am not stupid."

He leveled a pair of scissors at Jeremiah. "You, evidently, are. How long do you think you can fool me? Likely not even to your next anniversary. Possibly not even to March seventh. Do you know what March seventh is? I doubt."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah blinked, lips twitching slightly and a hand smoothing across his face. No radical mastectomy for Aleksy, not this time.

He stared at the tips of the scissors, paused in his own action as he searched his mind for the date. His fingers rubbed at the side of his neck a moment, a strange look flickering across his face before a sardonic smirk took it's place. It was not the first, nor probably the last time that Aleksy called him stupid.

"I didn't-" Jeremiah started and then stopped. "There likely would be no fooling you. I'm not even sure why I tried other than I was surprised to see you." Then, in a softer voice. "What is March seventh?" There was a circle around it on his calendar, his paper one, but no notes as to what.

shibrogane