Sirius and Irvine (backdated April 7)
Apr. 7th, 2015 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainIrvine works on convincing Sirius that he just wants to get to know Jay's other favorite person -- no shovel talks involved.
Irvine thought he'd be riding the high of Mutant Thievery Scandal's very first concert for days, if not weeks. Everything seemed a little brighter and more exciting. Hell, he was even paying attention in class these days, even if it didn't mean much any more. Community college was going to be his fate whether he made a C in English or not.
Still, it wasn't very often he actually had a reason to be in the library. It was just that this paper was actually kind of interesting, and he was getting into it. Wandering around with a few small books of poetry, Irvine caught sight of a dark head bent studiously over what looked like a whole pile of work. There was a little space left, though, so Irvine tugged out one of the other chairs at the table, and leaned over on it so he could grin at Sirius.
"Hey, this seat taken?" he asked in a library-appropriate voice.
Looking up, Sirius smiled. "Oh hey, nope. Well, I assume not considering we've got a few students who're hard to spot these days." He chuckled and moved a few of his papers and notes to make space for the other boy. They hadn't had a chance to talk before though with Jay and all, but Sirius had wondered if this might be coming.
"What's up?"
"Figured it was time I come say hello," Irvine responded, easily, settling himself into the empty chair and setting his books on an empty corner of the table. Really, he was more interested in Sirius than his homework. "Jay talks about you all the time, that probably ain't a surprise. I'm Irvine," he added. He didn't figure Jay talked about him to Sirius as much as the reverse.
"He talks about you too, big plans for the band and all that." Sirius nodded with a smile. Whilst he tried to encourage Jay to take opportunities and so on that his new fame offered, he kept out of the band stuff to not cause trouble especially since Jay had been so sure Irvine wouldn't approve of using Sirius or mutant connections to get ahead. "Nice to finally meet you." He closed the text book, this was far more interesting than crummy A level coursework.
"Likewise." Irvine's accent was more flat and drawled-out than a stereotypical Texas cowboy from the movies, but the boots he crossed at the ankles when he stretched out were right at home on the range. "Don't worry, I ain't interested in what they call a 'shovel speech'. I just don't want us to be strangers. Fact is, aside from what Jay's said, I don't think I know a thing about you, Mister Black."
"Sirius, please call me Sirius." He insisted quickly, stressing it heavily. He regained some of his smiled as he admitted "Beyond the worries that you might not approve of my suggestions that Jay exploit his 15 minutes of mutant/outing fame for his own benefit I don't know anything either. Something that sorely needs rectifying, I'd say."
Irvine just laughed, but not really at Sirius. The poor guy had no idea just how far off Jay had been in that assumption. "Man, I told 'im to work whatever he's got. Talent and personality is gonna carry him, but it's gettin' noticed that's the hard part, right?" He shook his head, good-naturedly. "The only shit I don't approve of is Jay feeling like he's gotta conform to somebody else's idea of him. No way am I gonna try to tell him what to do."
"Good, me neither." Sirius nodded, even if this wasn't a 'shovel talk' he wanted to make it clear he wouldn't intentionally hurt Jay, not ever.
"You guys met at a party, right?" Irvine prompted. How-we-met was usually a good place to start. "Believe it or not, I never got the story."
"There isn't much of one really, and yeah it was at my New Years Party. Did you come? I lost track of how many people we had on the boat." Sirius chuckled a little as he remembered the night. "Saw a face I didn't know yet with pretty wings looking kinda lost so thought I'd introduce myself. Got him a drink, started talking and ended up on the dancefloor and shit." 'And shit' being 'then we made out and I took him to my hotel room', but he guessed that wasn't the part of the story he was meant to share.
Even if Irvine was sort of curious about 'and shit,' it was bad manners to try and get private stuff like that out of a near-stranger. He'd just make some vague assumptions, though he couldn't help a knowing little grin. "Pretty tough to miss the wings, yeah. Man, New Year's Eve on a boat, love at first sight kind of stuff... sounds like a movie."
"Eh, love sounds a little bit hasty but yeah it was a good night that's led to something a little more that we're both enjoying." Sirius smiled again after faltering other the 'L' word. "We have a good time together."
It wasn't Irvine's style to keep secrets, but it wasn't his style to betray a friend's confidence, either. Still, he knew Jay's take on the relationship was a lot different... and Irvine was really bad at keeping his thoughts from showing on his face. He looked concerned, even though he tried not to. "Yeah? Good. Jay's, uh, writing some original music, he told me. I got a feeling you're gonna be immortalized in song."
Sirius's eyebrows went up. "He's played me a few but never mentioned that. I assumed they were for, well there was someone before me." If Irvine knew then cool but it wasn't his place to start talking about Julia. "I can only hope the songs are flattering then. Do you do any writing yourself or is it all his area?"
"I like coming up with music, but I'm no good with lyrics. They never seem to fit right." Irvine shrugged, unconcerned. He had his talents and he was happy with them. "So maybe we'll try writing together. I ain't no front man, but I'm in this for the long haul. We're gonna give it our all."
"Well I've said this to Jay but knowing him he hasn't passed it along, you guys want or need anything you think my career and shit can get you just ask. I'm a connection, use and abuse me." No point in knowing people and not asking after all.
Irvine grinned crookedly. "I got no problem with that. Well, not the 'abuse' bit, I hope that's obvious." He laced his fingers together behind his head, leaning back comfortably. Not exactly proper for the library, though. "We gotta have the chops first, though, y'know? I wanna be a rock star, not a one-hit wonder. I mean, you probably know, right? You gotta have something to keep people paying attention."
"The difference between 15 minutes and a lifetime's career." Sirius agreed, sure he came off publicly as ditzy and winging it but he did actually have a business plan for his career even if he didn't broadcast it so much. "I get it."
"Reckon you'd know a thing or two about it. I mean, I don't have a plan beyond 'play music, get famous,' but I'm still working on the first half." Irvine seemed content with that.
Only now, however, did he seem to realize that Sirius had been doing something, well, serious. He nodded toward the books and papers. "You got a big test coming up here?"
"I'm applying for Oxford and Cambridge." Sirius nodded with a smile. "I'm all free for you though, wanna head somewhere more chat friendly?"
Irvine considered his own homework books, and judged them deeply lacking in comparison to hanging out with Sirius for a bit. "For sure," he confirmed, stacking up his books so he could (maybe) find them later. "Wow. Oxford and Cambridge? Are they as fancy in England as they sound here?"
"Yeah, I suppose it is but in my last school it was basically expected." Big shock, Sirius Black who made a name for himself as a rebel was willingly doing the expected thing.
He packed up quickly into his school bag. "I'm guessing you're not planning on uni if you guys are thinking music?"
"Community college," answered Irvine with a shrug. "They have those in the U.K.? Cheaper, not as tough, takes just about anybody? Reckon I at least oughtta have something to fall back on, on the slim chance we don't become mutant rock stars." He was grinning as he said it, climbing out of his seat.
The tertiary schools in the US were different in many ways to back home but Sirius knew what he meant, they had them back home too. With a nod he commented "My hints at that route to Jay went like a lead balloon. He hasn't succeeded in his attempts to convince me that he's thick either. I get it though, a back up plan certainly doesn't hurt, no matter how good you guys are." Jay wasn't ready to hear that though.
Irvine frowned and nodded. He'd had plenty of exposure to Jay's self-esteem issues that were so, so clearly not based in reality. But that was how that sort of thing worked: didn't matter what anybody told you, your head got stuck that this is the way things were. Irvine stuck his hands in his pockets as Sirius gathered up his stuff, and then headed unhurriedly out of the library. "I got nothing better to do while half the band is finishing up high school, anyway. So you're gonna be doing the long-distance thing next year, huh?"
"Long distance?" Sirius repeated as they walked "Oh, you mean me and Jay? Uh, well. We'll see. There's plenty of time til then and you never know what might happen." He answered as vaguely as possible.
Aw, hell. Sirius probably didn't need to be told that Jay wasn't thinking that way at all. Then again, Irvine thought Jay needed to cool his heels for a whole lot of reasons. "Yeah? Well, do me a favor, and get straight with him on that before you fly out?" he suggested, still easy. "Cause I'm gonna end up dealin' with it either way."
"I am always honest with Jay." Sirius told him firmly. He didn't tell Jay everything but he never lied, Jay knew how things were. "I don't plan to hurt him, whatever I end up doing after graduating."
"Of course not," said Irvine. His hands in his pockets, he looked up toward the ceiling as they walked, thoughtful. "Nobody ever plans on hurting anybody. I mean, not usually. People still get hurt, though. Pretty much can't help it."
Sirius nodded, his own focus fixed straight ahead. "I know but I've put my cards on the table, if he's not listening or whatever there's nothing more I can do."
Irvine glanced over, and gave a sheepish half-smile, stopping in his tracks so he could fix this straight away. "Man, I ain't accusing you of anything. Promise. Fact is, my opinion ain't worth two cents about you 'n Jay, cause it's between you guys." He scrubbed a hand through his hair and admitted, "I was actually thinkin' of me and Alice for a second there."
"Alice? Oh really?" He smiled curiously, after all he and Alice had their little gossips quite often.
A gentleman didn't give too many details, but it wasn't a secret. "We were hanging out for awhile last year," Irvine confirmed, and started walking again now that they were clear. "But I suck at bein' casual. Me 'n Alice are still friends, but I had to back off. I felt like a real shit, lemme tell ya."
"Ah, see I'm opposite. Casual is all I know. Work have always preferred me unattached coz then they can make scandal and no one's hurt for real. I mean, it's not like I noticed or hurt about it. Casual's fun but Jay's the first to want to go on dates with me. It's new, interesting. You're lucky with Alice, she turned me down flat. Still, love hanging out with her." She was a lot of fun and a good friend so no skin off his nose at all.
Irvine cocked his head. "You're, what, seventeen? Eighteen? And you got your relationships managed by your boss? That... sucks." He wasn't real good at subtle, or tactful, all the time.
Sirius shrugged a little "Reality TV, I guess. It's just how things have been for me so Jay wanting to hang around is new and very much weird. We've talked about it though. My life's chaotic and unpredictable so the least I can do is always be honest with him." He didn't feel sorry for himself though and didn't see a reason for anyone else to either.
"What more could I ask for?" Irvine answered, with a little shrug and half a smile. Sirius didn't have to reassure him. Just getting to know the guy a little better was all that Irvine needed. He waved for Sirius to take a quick detour. "C'mon, kitchen's right here. I got a hankerin' for an ice cream sandwich."
"Ice cream sandwich?" Sirius repeated slowly, not quite believing his ears. "Are you pregnant mate? Craving ice cream in bread's gotta be a new one." And it didn't sound too appetising to the Brit.
Irvine sputtered in surprise. "What? Bread? No! What? Cookies, man, cookies! Ain't you got ice cream sandwiches in England?" He spread his hands wide, then reached to sling a friendly arm around Sirius' shoulders, if the other guy would allow him to. "Brother, come, lemme show you what you been missin' all these years."
Irvine thought he'd be riding the high of Mutant Thievery Scandal's very first concert for days, if not weeks. Everything seemed a little brighter and more exciting. Hell, he was even paying attention in class these days, even if it didn't mean much any more. Community college was going to be his fate whether he made a C in English or not.
Still, it wasn't very often he actually had a reason to be in the library. It was just that this paper was actually kind of interesting, and he was getting into it. Wandering around with a few small books of poetry, Irvine caught sight of a dark head bent studiously over what looked like a whole pile of work. There was a little space left, though, so Irvine tugged out one of the other chairs at the table, and leaned over on it so he could grin at Sirius.
"Hey, this seat taken?" he asked in a library-appropriate voice.
Looking up, Sirius smiled. "Oh hey, nope. Well, I assume not considering we've got a few students who're hard to spot these days." He chuckled and moved a few of his papers and notes to make space for the other boy. They hadn't had a chance to talk before though with Jay and all, but Sirius had wondered if this might be coming.
"What's up?"
"Figured it was time I come say hello," Irvine responded, easily, settling himself into the empty chair and setting his books on an empty corner of the table. Really, he was more interested in Sirius than his homework. "Jay talks about you all the time, that probably ain't a surprise. I'm Irvine," he added. He didn't figure Jay talked about him to Sirius as much as the reverse.
"He talks about you too, big plans for the band and all that." Sirius nodded with a smile. Whilst he tried to encourage Jay to take opportunities and so on that his new fame offered, he kept out of the band stuff to not cause trouble especially since Jay had been so sure Irvine wouldn't approve of using Sirius or mutant connections to get ahead. "Nice to finally meet you." He closed the text book, this was far more interesting than crummy A level coursework.
"Likewise." Irvine's accent was more flat and drawled-out than a stereotypical Texas cowboy from the movies, but the boots he crossed at the ankles when he stretched out were right at home on the range. "Don't worry, I ain't interested in what they call a 'shovel speech'. I just don't want us to be strangers. Fact is, aside from what Jay's said, I don't think I know a thing about you, Mister Black."
"Sirius, please call me Sirius." He insisted quickly, stressing it heavily. He regained some of his smiled as he admitted "Beyond the worries that you might not approve of my suggestions that Jay exploit his 15 minutes of mutant/outing fame for his own benefit I don't know anything either. Something that sorely needs rectifying, I'd say."
Irvine just laughed, but not really at Sirius. The poor guy had no idea just how far off Jay had been in that assumption. "Man, I told 'im to work whatever he's got. Talent and personality is gonna carry him, but it's gettin' noticed that's the hard part, right?" He shook his head, good-naturedly. "The only shit I don't approve of is Jay feeling like he's gotta conform to somebody else's idea of him. No way am I gonna try to tell him what to do."
"Good, me neither." Sirius nodded, even if this wasn't a 'shovel talk' he wanted to make it clear he wouldn't intentionally hurt Jay, not ever.
"You guys met at a party, right?" Irvine prompted. How-we-met was usually a good place to start. "Believe it or not, I never got the story."
"There isn't much of one really, and yeah it was at my New Years Party. Did you come? I lost track of how many people we had on the boat." Sirius chuckled a little as he remembered the night. "Saw a face I didn't know yet with pretty wings looking kinda lost so thought I'd introduce myself. Got him a drink, started talking and ended up on the dancefloor and shit." 'And shit' being 'then we made out and I took him to my hotel room', but he guessed that wasn't the part of the story he was meant to share.
Even if Irvine was sort of curious about 'and shit,' it was bad manners to try and get private stuff like that out of a near-stranger. He'd just make some vague assumptions, though he couldn't help a knowing little grin. "Pretty tough to miss the wings, yeah. Man, New Year's Eve on a boat, love at first sight kind of stuff... sounds like a movie."
"Eh, love sounds a little bit hasty but yeah it was a good night that's led to something a little more that we're both enjoying." Sirius smiled again after faltering other the 'L' word. "We have a good time together."
It wasn't Irvine's style to keep secrets, but it wasn't his style to betray a friend's confidence, either. Still, he knew Jay's take on the relationship was a lot different... and Irvine was really bad at keeping his thoughts from showing on his face. He looked concerned, even though he tried not to. "Yeah? Good. Jay's, uh, writing some original music, he told me. I got a feeling you're gonna be immortalized in song."
Sirius's eyebrows went up. "He's played me a few but never mentioned that. I assumed they were for, well there was someone before me." If Irvine knew then cool but it wasn't his place to start talking about Julia. "I can only hope the songs are flattering then. Do you do any writing yourself or is it all his area?"
"I like coming up with music, but I'm no good with lyrics. They never seem to fit right." Irvine shrugged, unconcerned. He had his talents and he was happy with them. "So maybe we'll try writing together. I ain't no front man, but I'm in this for the long haul. We're gonna give it our all."
"Well I've said this to Jay but knowing him he hasn't passed it along, you guys want or need anything you think my career and shit can get you just ask. I'm a connection, use and abuse me." No point in knowing people and not asking after all.
Irvine grinned crookedly. "I got no problem with that. Well, not the 'abuse' bit, I hope that's obvious." He laced his fingers together behind his head, leaning back comfortably. Not exactly proper for the library, though. "We gotta have the chops first, though, y'know? I wanna be a rock star, not a one-hit wonder. I mean, you probably know, right? You gotta have something to keep people paying attention."
"The difference between 15 minutes and a lifetime's career." Sirius agreed, sure he came off publicly as ditzy and winging it but he did actually have a business plan for his career even if he didn't broadcast it so much. "I get it."
"Reckon you'd know a thing or two about it. I mean, I don't have a plan beyond 'play music, get famous,' but I'm still working on the first half." Irvine seemed content with that.
Only now, however, did he seem to realize that Sirius had been doing something, well, serious. He nodded toward the books and papers. "You got a big test coming up here?"
"I'm applying for Oxford and Cambridge." Sirius nodded with a smile. "I'm all free for you though, wanna head somewhere more chat friendly?"
Irvine considered his own homework books, and judged them deeply lacking in comparison to hanging out with Sirius for a bit. "For sure," he confirmed, stacking up his books so he could (maybe) find them later. "Wow. Oxford and Cambridge? Are they as fancy in England as they sound here?"
"Yeah, I suppose it is but in my last school it was basically expected." Big shock, Sirius Black who made a name for himself as a rebel was willingly doing the expected thing.
He packed up quickly into his school bag. "I'm guessing you're not planning on uni if you guys are thinking music?"
"Community college," answered Irvine with a shrug. "They have those in the U.K.? Cheaper, not as tough, takes just about anybody? Reckon I at least oughtta have something to fall back on, on the slim chance we don't become mutant rock stars." He was grinning as he said it, climbing out of his seat.
The tertiary schools in the US were different in many ways to back home but Sirius knew what he meant, they had them back home too. With a nod he commented "My hints at that route to Jay went like a lead balloon. He hasn't succeeded in his attempts to convince me that he's thick either. I get it though, a back up plan certainly doesn't hurt, no matter how good you guys are." Jay wasn't ready to hear that though.
Irvine frowned and nodded. He'd had plenty of exposure to Jay's self-esteem issues that were so, so clearly not based in reality. But that was how that sort of thing worked: didn't matter what anybody told you, your head got stuck that this is the way things were. Irvine stuck his hands in his pockets as Sirius gathered up his stuff, and then headed unhurriedly out of the library. "I got nothing better to do while half the band is finishing up high school, anyway. So you're gonna be doing the long-distance thing next year, huh?"
"Long distance?" Sirius repeated as they walked "Oh, you mean me and Jay? Uh, well. We'll see. There's plenty of time til then and you never know what might happen." He answered as vaguely as possible.
Aw, hell. Sirius probably didn't need to be told that Jay wasn't thinking that way at all. Then again, Irvine thought Jay needed to cool his heels for a whole lot of reasons. "Yeah? Well, do me a favor, and get straight with him on that before you fly out?" he suggested, still easy. "Cause I'm gonna end up dealin' with it either way."
"I am always honest with Jay." Sirius told him firmly. He didn't tell Jay everything but he never lied, Jay knew how things were. "I don't plan to hurt him, whatever I end up doing after graduating."
"Of course not," said Irvine. His hands in his pockets, he looked up toward the ceiling as they walked, thoughtful. "Nobody ever plans on hurting anybody. I mean, not usually. People still get hurt, though. Pretty much can't help it."
Sirius nodded, his own focus fixed straight ahead. "I know but I've put my cards on the table, if he's not listening or whatever there's nothing more I can do."
Irvine glanced over, and gave a sheepish half-smile, stopping in his tracks so he could fix this straight away. "Man, I ain't accusing you of anything. Promise. Fact is, my opinion ain't worth two cents about you 'n Jay, cause it's between you guys." He scrubbed a hand through his hair and admitted, "I was actually thinkin' of me and Alice for a second there."
"Alice? Oh really?" He smiled curiously, after all he and Alice had their little gossips quite often.
A gentleman didn't give too many details, but it wasn't a secret. "We were hanging out for awhile last year," Irvine confirmed, and started walking again now that they were clear. "But I suck at bein' casual. Me 'n Alice are still friends, but I had to back off. I felt like a real shit, lemme tell ya."
"Ah, see I'm opposite. Casual is all I know. Work have always preferred me unattached coz then they can make scandal and no one's hurt for real. I mean, it's not like I noticed or hurt about it. Casual's fun but Jay's the first to want to go on dates with me. It's new, interesting. You're lucky with Alice, she turned me down flat. Still, love hanging out with her." She was a lot of fun and a good friend so no skin off his nose at all.
Irvine cocked his head. "You're, what, seventeen? Eighteen? And you got your relationships managed by your boss? That... sucks." He wasn't real good at subtle, or tactful, all the time.
Sirius shrugged a little "Reality TV, I guess. It's just how things have been for me so Jay wanting to hang around is new and very much weird. We've talked about it though. My life's chaotic and unpredictable so the least I can do is always be honest with him." He didn't feel sorry for himself though and didn't see a reason for anyone else to either.
"What more could I ask for?" Irvine answered, with a little shrug and half a smile. Sirius didn't have to reassure him. Just getting to know the guy a little better was all that Irvine needed. He waved for Sirius to take a quick detour. "C'mon, kitchen's right here. I got a hankerin' for an ice cream sandwich."
"Ice cream sandwich?" Sirius repeated slowly, not quite believing his ears. "Are you pregnant mate? Craving ice cream in bread's gotta be a new one." And it didn't sound too appetising to the Brit.
Irvine sputtered in surprise. "What? Bread? No! What? Cookies, man, cookies! Ain't you got ice cream sandwiches in England?" He spread his hands wide, then reached to sling a friendly arm around Sirius' shoulders, if the other guy would allow him to. "Brother, come, lemme show you what you been missin' all these years."
