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om_main2015-01-28 10:20 am
om_triptych) wrote in om_main2015-01-28 10:20 am
Jay and Lu | Backdated to 1/28/15
Jay brings Lu flowers, and manages to talk her into joining MTS.
After the art hallway had quieted for the afternoon, Jay Guthrie wandered in to lean in the door of the studio. He knew who would be there, of course, and he knew full well that maybe he was about to look like a complete creeper. But he had neglected to do something about this for too long, and he really, really needed to make up for it.
Behind his back, he held a very small bunch of white daisies, wrapped in cheerful yellow paper. A friendly gift, he was pretty sure, one that couldn't be misconstrued as romantic. Unless it turned out that white daisies were her favorite, and she thought that he asked around school obsessively to find out. Getting a little paranoid there, Guthrie. He shook the thought out of his head and rapped lightly on the art room door.
Lu glanced at the door in surprise, not having realized that someone must have closed it on their way out. She glanced down at her hands, which were liberally coated in various colors of pastels, and shrugged. More than likely, the door knob had been covered in worse, right? She could always wipe it off later.
That decided, she got to her feet and headed over to the door, wondering who'd forgotten something, or if someone was looking for Mr. Jinadu. The face that greeted her, though, was unexpected, and she wasn't entirely sure what to say. She'd been meaning to check on Jay and see how he was handling the whole being outed thing, but she hadn't been sure how to approach him.
"Oh, hi Jay. Are you looking for Mr. Jinadu?" she asked, figuring that was a safe assumption, and a safe topic. "Because he left about ten minutes ago. I think he had a meeting or something?"
"Not at all. I was lookin' for you, Miss Lu. I've got a long overdue apology for you." He produced the daisies, with only a faint blushing of his cheeks. "It was ungentlemanly of me to forget to look for you at New Year's."
"Oh! Umm...you know, it p..probably wasn't me you would've been looking for anyway, r..right?" After all, he'd promised to take Sis flying - it wasn't as if he'd have been looking for her. And he'd definitely seemed busy, the few times she'd seen him at the party. She broke off, feeling awkward, then forced a smile. "Anyway, it's just Lu, not Miss. But I can p..pass the flowers on to whoever you w..want."
"They're for you. Unless you don't want them--I don't want to make you feel weird. I just really wanted to apologize." He held them out for her. "You'll share them with your sisters anyway, right? But I was specifically looking for you. I wanted to see if you wanted to talk about the violin."
Lu's face warmed a little, and she brushed her hands off on her jeans (they'd wash, after all) and accepted the flowers, then looked sheepish as she realized what he meant. "Thanks. And no, it's really sweet - they're pretty." She took a breath and exhaled. "And it's okay. I mean, I saw you were, umm, busy? I didn't really expect you to remember, anyway." Granted, Sis had, but she was over it. It wasn't as if they all hadn't seen him and Sirius on the dance floor. "And, umm...sorry - did you want to come in and talk? I should probably clean up my stuff."
"I didn't mean to interrupt you. Do you mind me askin' what you're workin' on?" Jay couldn't even draw a straight line to save his life. "So did you get all the artistic talent, or are all three of you a little mini-Renaissance unto yourselves?"
"I don't know about talent," she admitted, smiling self-consciously. "I'm the only one who's interested, though." She headed over to the table, where a mostly finished landscape of a sunset over the beach at Coronado lay next to a picture of the same subject. "It's relaxing, you know? Except when it doesn't turn out - then it's frustrating." She looked over at him and smiled. "Do you draw, too? Or are you just into music?"
"Me? I can draw a smiley face when my little siblings do good on their homework, and that's about it." He looked the drawing over, and whistled. "That's lovely. The colors."
Lu blushed more and smiled. "Thanks. I can't get the pink right," she admitted. "I've been playing with it all through class, but it's just not...right, you know?" She smiled and shrugged as she set down the flowers and started gathering up her supplies. "Anyway,you wanted to talk about my violin?" With any luck, he just wanted to borrow it. She still wasn't at all sure she was comfortable with the idea of going on stage.
"Yeah. Me and Irvine met up. We're about to get band practices scheduled for real. So I came back to ask you if you thought any more about joining." He kept his eyes on the canvas. The pink looked good to him, but he supposed he didn't know anything.
"I...honestly?" She looked up at him, feeling decidedly awkward. "I don't think I can. I mean, I've never performed for an audience bigger than, well, Cal? And even that freaked me out a little." She smiled self-consciously. "Besides, who wants a violin in a rock band, really?"
"It'd be a pretty sweet sound, you've gotta admit." Jay sighed and leaned back, lifting his wings a bit so he could brace his palms and rest against a desk. "I'm not gonna work you over real hard about it or anything. But I was really hoping you'd join. I think you might have a lot of fun."
Lu chewed at her lip for a moment. He seemed like he really did want her to, and she hated to just say no. On the other hand... "I d..don't do very well in front of people," she admitted. "But...I guess I could try it?" She smiled a little. "If nothing else, I can learn the song and Cal can mimic it and take over, right?" It could work. If Cal was game, anyway. Besides, Jay and Irvine were both nice guys, and practicing with someone could be fun.
"If you get in there and you hate it, you can quit and no one will be mad. I promise. Or I'll give 'em a good chivalrous punch for you." He was grinning pretty broadly. This was the best thing that had happened all week. Band projects were the only thing that took his mind off his misery, anymore.
Lu smiled, mostly in response to Jay's obvious enthusiasm, because the more she thought about getting on stage, the more she wanted to just crawl under the nearest table. "You don't have to p..punch anybody," she promised, picking up her pastels and carrying them over to the storage cabinet. "I just...I'm kind of the one with stage fright? And, y'know, everything else fright." Her smile tilted as she turned back towards him, and she shrugged. "Anyway, what else have you been up to? I meant to come find you when I read the stuff in the paper, but I wasn't sure if you'd want to talk about it or not."
He let out a clear whistle, to show just what he thought about the media explosion. "I didn't think my name was gonna ever be in the paper 'til I made it with my music career. All this stuff..." He shook his head. "It's complicated. Sirius is complicated."
"Well...complicated can be okay, right?" Lu said, tilting her head a little to watch his reaction. "I mean, if you figure it's worth it, it can." It wouldn't be her first choice, given her mutation pretty much complicated relationship stuff more than enough already, but it was true anyway. "Are you okay with being out? I mean, I kinda thought you were already."
"Well, I was ok being out locally. It was just all of the...being on clickbait websites and TMZ that kind of freaked me out. I was worried someone might take it out on my family, too. Plus, they didn't know that I like boys." He fluffed and re-settled his feathers, all nerves.
"That's a lot all at once," Lu conceded, giving Jay a sympathetic look. "How's your family handling it all?"
"My mother is a saint, and it feels like half my siblings are mutants so they're all working through it in their own way. I'm one of the lucky ones," he said, thinking for a moment of the few glimpses he'd had at Sirius' past. Jay could definitely say that he was one of the lucky ones, and he'd been beaten within an inch of death just for being born different. "Which kind of means it's sad times for all of us, huh?"
"Oh, I don't know. I mean, everyone's got ups and downs, right?" She shrugged and smiled a little. "I mean, I like to think I'm one of the lucky ones too, but I don't think there's anyone who hasn't had bad stuff happen, ever."
"It's nice to see some optimism," Jay said, his face beginning to reflect some of her light. "Do you mind me asking if you're out? Or if you plan to come out?"
Lu laughed and shook her head. "I don't mind. It feels weird to call it coming out though, y'know? But I'm out - Pietro interviewed us for his magazine this month." She shrugged and smiled. "I wasn't real sure about it, but the other two wanted to, and if it'll help other people..." She couldn't argue that. She just hoped it would.
"That's how I feel. That's why I didn't want to hide my name when the pictures got leaked, and why I want to be famous. Because to be honest, I'm just a laid back country boy at heart." He grinned. "But if I can put myself out there and make things easier for other people like us, then I'm gonna do it. There weren't any mutant role models for my big brother or my big sister when they changed. I don't want it to be that way for all the young people. So, yeah. I think it was really brave of you, putting your name out when you were scared or uncertain."
Lu blushed a little, but smiled. She didn't feel particularly brave, but it was nice of him to say, anyway. "It wasn't a big deal. I m..mean, my name's out there anyway, y'know? And my dad said he wasn't worried about the PR." She met his eyes and smiled a little broader. "It's cool you want to do that, though. And really brave. I'm just sorry it happened if you weren't ready for it to. I m..mean, Lydia organized things for us, which really helped."
"Lydia spent all evening telling me what was going on about 50 times until I finally understood. I'm a little slow when it comes to this stuff, I guess." He gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder, which was a punch only in symbol--it was more like a light brush with his knuckles. "But hey. Looks like you're braver than you thought. Maybe even brave enough to play in a band."
Lu narrowed her eyes and mock glared at him. "Y..you set me up for that," she pointed out. "And it's n..not the same?" She sighed and gestured vaguely. "I mean, I d..don't have to do the publicity stuff by myself. I just have to let Sis talk and not panic, just like I do when we have to go to the other big events." Granted, there was an audience for most of it, but she wasn't up there on her own, either.
Jay pointedly turned his gaze back to her artwork. "I bet you feel really peaceful when you're drawing. Like...a sense of deep satisfaction, right? Even when it's frustrating."
"Yes..." She gave him a curious look. "I don't see what that has to do with getting up in public, though..."
"Do you ever feel that way when you're playing music?"
"Well, yeah." Her expression turned a bit more skeptical. "But not when there are other people there."
"Maybe that'll change," he answered with an easy shrug. "I just appreciate you bein' wiling to try."
Lu blushed a little and smiled, feeling more than a little self-conscious. "It's n..not that big a deal. Besides," she admitted, "I haven't tried yet. I may end up hiding in the bathroom?"
"Maybe. And maybe not. Whatever happens is ok." He wanted her to believe in herself, but he knew well enough not to put too much pressure on that. Trying was a success, no matter what happened next.
Lu smiled, then took a breath and relaxed. "So, umm...are you busy now?" she asked as she picked her flowers back up. "Because I should p..probably put these in some water, but then I was going to grab some dinner?" She shrugged and grinned crookedly. "If you have p..plans with Sirius or something, it's cool."
Jay breathed a deep, quiet laugh. "I never have plans with Sirius. I'd be happy to escort ya to dinner."
Lu blushed and slipped her arm through his playfully. "Flowers and an escort," she teased, very obviously not meaning it seriously, because she was sure Jay was just being sweet. "Sis may actually be jealous of me for once."
"Let's go make her turn green, then," Jay grinned, offering his arm. "Just point the way. I don't really know the girls' hall well." First stop was, as she said, getting those flowers in water.
"I'll give you the grand tour," she promised, returning his grin.
After the art hallway had quieted for the afternoon, Jay Guthrie wandered in to lean in the door of the studio. He knew who would be there, of course, and he knew full well that maybe he was about to look like a complete creeper. But he had neglected to do something about this for too long, and he really, really needed to make up for it.
Behind his back, he held a very small bunch of white daisies, wrapped in cheerful yellow paper. A friendly gift, he was pretty sure, one that couldn't be misconstrued as romantic. Unless it turned out that white daisies were her favorite, and she thought that he asked around school obsessively to find out. Getting a little paranoid there, Guthrie. He shook the thought out of his head and rapped lightly on the art room door.
Lu glanced at the door in surprise, not having realized that someone must have closed it on their way out. She glanced down at her hands, which were liberally coated in various colors of pastels, and shrugged. More than likely, the door knob had been covered in worse, right? She could always wipe it off later.
That decided, she got to her feet and headed over to the door, wondering who'd forgotten something, or if someone was looking for Mr. Jinadu. The face that greeted her, though, was unexpected, and she wasn't entirely sure what to say. She'd been meaning to check on Jay and see how he was handling the whole being outed thing, but she hadn't been sure how to approach him.
"Oh, hi Jay. Are you looking for Mr. Jinadu?" she asked, figuring that was a safe assumption, and a safe topic. "Because he left about ten minutes ago. I think he had a meeting or something?"
"Not at all. I was lookin' for you, Miss Lu. I've got a long overdue apology for you." He produced the daisies, with only a faint blushing of his cheeks. "It was ungentlemanly of me to forget to look for you at New Year's."
"Oh! Umm...you know, it p..probably wasn't me you would've been looking for anyway, r..right?" After all, he'd promised to take Sis flying - it wasn't as if he'd have been looking for her. And he'd definitely seemed busy, the few times she'd seen him at the party. She broke off, feeling awkward, then forced a smile. "Anyway, it's just Lu, not Miss. But I can p..pass the flowers on to whoever you w..want."
"They're for you. Unless you don't want them--I don't want to make you feel weird. I just really wanted to apologize." He held them out for her. "You'll share them with your sisters anyway, right? But I was specifically looking for you. I wanted to see if you wanted to talk about the violin."
Lu's face warmed a little, and she brushed her hands off on her jeans (they'd wash, after all) and accepted the flowers, then looked sheepish as she realized what he meant. "Thanks. And no, it's really sweet - they're pretty." She took a breath and exhaled. "And it's okay. I mean, I saw you were, umm, busy? I didn't really expect you to remember, anyway." Granted, Sis had, but she was over it. It wasn't as if they all hadn't seen him and Sirius on the dance floor. "And, umm...sorry - did you want to come in and talk? I should probably clean up my stuff."
"I didn't mean to interrupt you. Do you mind me askin' what you're workin' on?" Jay couldn't even draw a straight line to save his life. "So did you get all the artistic talent, or are all three of you a little mini-Renaissance unto yourselves?"
"I don't know about talent," she admitted, smiling self-consciously. "I'm the only one who's interested, though." She headed over to the table, where a mostly finished landscape of a sunset over the beach at Coronado lay next to a picture of the same subject. "It's relaxing, you know? Except when it doesn't turn out - then it's frustrating." She looked over at him and smiled. "Do you draw, too? Or are you just into music?"
"Me? I can draw a smiley face when my little siblings do good on their homework, and that's about it." He looked the drawing over, and whistled. "That's lovely. The colors."
Lu blushed more and smiled. "Thanks. I can't get the pink right," she admitted. "I've been playing with it all through class, but it's just not...right, you know?" She smiled and shrugged as she set down the flowers and started gathering up her supplies. "Anyway,you wanted to talk about my violin?" With any luck, he just wanted to borrow it. She still wasn't at all sure she was comfortable with the idea of going on stage.
"Yeah. Me and Irvine met up. We're about to get band practices scheduled for real. So I came back to ask you if you thought any more about joining." He kept his eyes on the canvas. The pink looked good to him, but he supposed he didn't know anything.
"I...honestly?" She looked up at him, feeling decidedly awkward. "I don't think I can. I mean, I've never performed for an audience bigger than, well, Cal? And even that freaked me out a little." She smiled self-consciously. "Besides, who wants a violin in a rock band, really?"
"It'd be a pretty sweet sound, you've gotta admit." Jay sighed and leaned back, lifting his wings a bit so he could brace his palms and rest against a desk. "I'm not gonna work you over real hard about it or anything. But I was really hoping you'd join. I think you might have a lot of fun."
Lu chewed at her lip for a moment. He seemed like he really did want her to, and she hated to just say no. On the other hand... "I d..don't do very well in front of people," she admitted. "But...I guess I could try it?" She smiled a little. "If nothing else, I can learn the song and Cal can mimic it and take over, right?" It could work. If Cal was game, anyway. Besides, Jay and Irvine were both nice guys, and practicing with someone could be fun.
"If you get in there and you hate it, you can quit and no one will be mad. I promise. Or I'll give 'em a good chivalrous punch for you." He was grinning pretty broadly. This was the best thing that had happened all week. Band projects were the only thing that took his mind off his misery, anymore.
Lu smiled, mostly in response to Jay's obvious enthusiasm, because the more she thought about getting on stage, the more she wanted to just crawl under the nearest table. "You don't have to p..punch anybody," she promised, picking up her pastels and carrying them over to the storage cabinet. "I just...I'm kind of the one with stage fright? And, y'know, everything else fright." Her smile tilted as she turned back towards him, and she shrugged. "Anyway, what else have you been up to? I meant to come find you when I read the stuff in the paper, but I wasn't sure if you'd want to talk about it or not."
He let out a clear whistle, to show just what he thought about the media explosion. "I didn't think my name was gonna ever be in the paper 'til I made it with my music career. All this stuff..." He shook his head. "It's complicated. Sirius is complicated."
"Well...complicated can be okay, right?" Lu said, tilting her head a little to watch his reaction. "I mean, if you figure it's worth it, it can." It wouldn't be her first choice, given her mutation pretty much complicated relationship stuff more than enough already, but it was true anyway. "Are you okay with being out? I mean, I kinda thought you were already."
"Well, I was ok being out locally. It was just all of the...being on clickbait websites and TMZ that kind of freaked me out. I was worried someone might take it out on my family, too. Plus, they didn't know that I like boys." He fluffed and re-settled his feathers, all nerves.
"That's a lot all at once," Lu conceded, giving Jay a sympathetic look. "How's your family handling it all?"
"My mother is a saint, and it feels like half my siblings are mutants so they're all working through it in their own way. I'm one of the lucky ones," he said, thinking for a moment of the few glimpses he'd had at Sirius' past. Jay could definitely say that he was one of the lucky ones, and he'd been beaten within an inch of death just for being born different. "Which kind of means it's sad times for all of us, huh?"
"Oh, I don't know. I mean, everyone's got ups and downs, right?" She shrugged and smiled a little. "I mean, I like to think I'm one of the lucky ones too, but I don't think there's anyone who hasn't had bad stuff happen, ever."
"It's nice to see some optimism," Jay said, his face beginning to reflect some of her light. "Do you mind me asking if you're out? Or if you plan to come out?"
Lu laughed and shook her head. "I don't mind. It feels weird to call it coming out though, y'know? But I'm out - Pietro interviewed us for his magazine this month." She shrugged and smiled. "I wasn't real sure about it, but the other two wanted to, and if it'll help other people..." She couldn't argue that. She just hoped it would.
"That's how I feel. That's why I didn't want to hide my name when the pictures got leaked, and why I want to be famous. Because to be honest, I'm just a laid back country boy at heart." He grinned. "But if I can put myself out there and make things easier for other people like us, then I'm gonna do it. There weren't any mutant role models for my big brother or my big sister when they changed. I don't want it to be that way for all the young people. So, yeah. I think it was really brave of you, putting your name out when you were scared or uncertain."
Lu blushed a little, but smiled. She didn't feel particularly brave, but it was nice of him to say, anyway. "It wasn't a big deal. I m..mean, my name's out there anyway, y'know? And my dad said he wasn't worried about the PR." She met his eyes and smiled a little broader. "It's cool you want to do that, though. And really brave. I'm just sorry it happened if you weren't ready for it to. I m..mean, Lydia organized things for us, which really helped."
"Lydia spent all evening telling me what was going on about 50 times until I finally understood. I'm a little slow when it comes to this stuff, I guess." He gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder, which was a punch only in symbol--it was more like a light brush with his knuckles. "But hey. Looks like you're braver than you thought. Maybe even brave enough to play in a band."
Lu narrowed her eyes and mock glared at him. "Y..you set me up for that," she pointed out. "And it's n..not the same?" She sighed and gestured vaguely. "I mean, I d..don't have to do the publicity stuff by myself. I just have to let Sis talk and not panic, just like I do when we have to go to the other big events." Granted, there was an audience for most of it, but she wasn't up there on her own, either.
Jay pointedly turned his gaze back to her artwork. "I bet you feel really peaceful when you're drawing. Like...a sense of deep satisfaction, right? Even when it's frustrating."
"Yes..." She gave him a curious look. "I don't see what that has to do with getting up in public, though..."
"Do you ever feel that way when you're playing music?"
"Well, yeah." Her expression turned a bit more skeptical. "But not when there are other people there."
"Maybe that'll change," he answered with an easy shrug. "I just appreciate you bein' wiling to try."
Lu blushed a little and smiled, feeling more than a little self-conscious. "It's n..not that big a deal. Besides," she admitted, "I haven't tried yet. I may end up hiding in the bathroom?"
"Maybe. And maybe not. Whatever happens is ok." He wanted her to believe in herself, but he knew well enough not to put too much pressure on that. Trying was a success, no matter what happened next.
Lu smiled, then took a breath and relaxed. "So, umm...are you busy now?" she asked as she picked her flowers back up. "Because I should p..probably put these in some water, but then I was going to grab some dinner?" She shrugged and grinned crookedly. "If you have p..plans with Sirius or something, it's cool."
Jay breathed a deep, quiet laugh. "I never have plans with Sirius. I'd be happy to escort ya to dinner."
Lu blushed and slipped her arm through his playfully. "Flowers and an escort," she teased, very obviously not meaning it seriously, because she was sure Jay was just being sweet. "Sis may actually be jealous of me for once."
"Let's go make her turn green, then," Jay grinned, offering his arm. "Just point the way. I don't really know the girls' hall well." First stop was, as she said, getting those flowers in water.
"I'll give you the grand tour," she promised, returning his grin.