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It's late on at night, when the late shows are letting out, what with Jack stacking up all that overtime while it's available. After the shows let out and the crew cleans up, Teagan waits outside the theater's side door, leaned against the brick wall and watching people walk by. They pick their phone out of their pocket and send a text to Jack with a picture of said door, a time/date sticker on it.
The text reads simply: Hey, Scribbles.
be right out. u gonna walk me home? :P is the reply they get after a few minutes, and indeed, here Jack is stepping out the door in a whirlwind of that rainstorm smell mixed with copper, his jacket not yet zipped and his work bag slung on one shoulder. He looks around, but he doesn't really look like he expects to see them.
If you're really really lucky.
The Mirrorskin is - shockingly - visible! They're not Light Shy! They're just leaning against a wall, head tipped to the side and leaned against the brick, hands tucked into the pockets of their long, charcoal grey leather coat. Yes, just like in that picture Blake drew.
They curl up one corner of their mouth when Jack comes out of the theater, but stay right where they are.
Jack's eyebrows shoot up in surprise at the very visible Teagan, and a grin slides onto his face as his cheeks get a little scribbly.
"What're you doing here?" He asks, taking his time to close the distance between them. Like he's worried about seeming eager, or something. "Not that I'm complaining, just...surprised."
As his cheeks get scribbly, and he moves cautiously, the Mirrorskin keeps their hands tucked into their pockets and looks up the street for a moment before turning their attention back to him. "Ehh, I could say I was looking after Vertigo and decided to stop by, but... " their broken-mirror eyes reflect back bits of his face. "I wanted to see you. And say thank you."
He only sees those reflections for a moment before he dips his head. "I...I mean I...you don't have'ta thank me..." He rubs the back of his head and leans against the wall next to him. "Just...I mean it's...I'm glad you're okay," is what he finally says.
"No, I don't have to," Teagan answers, leaning over to kiss the corner of his mouth, their voice pitched low and just for him. "But I am." Their nose brushes his cheek and then they go back to their casual lean. "So thank you. You understood. And now I am okay, and June is too. She heals fast."
"You busy tonight?"
More scribbles explode over Jack's cheeks - since when has he been concerned about PDA? - and that slightly nervous grin is still there, when Teagan pulls away. "'S kinda my job, to understand. Glad she's okay, too, I don't think I knew she could do that...?"
He shrugs and hitches his bag up on his shoulders. "My only plans were to go home and crash, d'you have something in mind?" He pulls out his phone as he speaks, eyeing the screen for a second and then preparing to send a text.
That reaction gets a broadening of Teagan's sharp smile, and they look aside at him, pulling one hand out of their coat pocket to card their fingers through their messy hair. "Hmm," they agree, watching him with that thoughtful expression on their face. That is new. "Yeah, that's -- how she works. I'll explain it ... " a vague tip of their head. Not on the street.
"Sigrún built up the fire again because she's celebrating the fact that she and June graduated, but she had a bunch of mead and crashed out. I was thinking if you wanted to grab some food and hang out... " The Darkling version of Netflix and chill?
Jack nods once in understanding. "Yeah, I'd be down for that. Cheesesteaks?" His grin may be a little teasing now, and he taps out a quick text before putting his phone away.
Now that he's been able to make some sort of teasing volley back, the scribbles on his cheeks have mostly disappeared. Maybe it's something about feeling in control, or settling into a role he knows how to play.
'Cause this whole 'being affectionate in public' isn't something the two of them have really navigated yet, have they?
"Am I that predictable?" Teagan asks, adding, "Maybe don't answer that," with a cut of their head aside to look at him. The text is taken in stride, as if they expected it (they did, and probably would have prompted him if he weren't already on it), and then push away from the wall.
"I mean, can you blame me? I lived in New York for a while, and then Vermont, Georgia, a brief and largely awful stay in Miami, though we did meet Laura there... " Their voice trails off. "Anyway, not much cheesesteak there worth eating." A step up the street and then they turn back to face him, walking backwards up the street towards the closest corner Bodega and sub shop, which is where everyone knows you get the best cheesesteaks.
"I mean, not too predictable. You're here," he gestures back to the theater, "and I sure as hell didn't expect that."
The closest corner bodega and sub shop happens to be one where Jack has a rapport with the guy behind the counter. Maybe 'cause picking up food on the way home, or in between shows, is real fuckin' convenient when it's within walking distance.
"I took the bus here, 's too damn cold to take my bike..." he says to Teagan after greeting the guy at the counter warmly.
"As long as I'm still surprising you occasionally," Teagan drolls, wandering in through the door after holding it open for Jack like some sort of gentlebutch or something. They follow him in, one hand absently tracking down his spine, one of those lazy affectionate gestures.
"Bus doesn't head out our way. Well, it kinda does but it's too far a walk from the stop. I'll call us a Lyft in a minute." They tip their chin up at the guy at the counter. "Get what you want, I'm paying." They order a steak, onions, American, mushrooms, sauce on the side.
"Yeah you - absolutely do -" the second part of the sentence comes out a little breathless, as Teagan traces down his spine. But he manages to get his order out okay, and even leans into Teagan's shoulder after a bit.
"Prob'ly would have ended up getting a Lyft anyway, just missed the bus and they only come every hour this time of night." He grimaces. "God, I'm just realizing I...may have forgotten to eat lunch. That...explains some shit," he finishes with a small laugh.
They grin down at him at that slight breathlessness, wrapping a lazy arm around him and leaning their head on his as the scent of grilled onions and Steak-Ums and toasting bread fills the little shop. "Good," they laugh, and then pet his back again before briefly disengaging to wander down the short chip aisle. "Well, then sandwiches won't cut it. Sigrún would say you need vegetables but potatoes are a vegetable. Do you want sodas? I don't remember what we have at the house."
"I mean Sigrun's right, but...onions and mushrooms are also vegetables," Jack points out, and follows them, snagging a bag of smartfood on his way. "Vegetable and protein," he holds it up with a smile. "I'd take soda, yeah. Or water, I'm easy." A shrug.
"You really can't leave me openings like that, Scribbles. Besides which, not so much, it took months." Teagan grabs a couple of cokes and a bag of Old Bay chips, wandering around the tiny aisles and picking up a peanut butter Snickers, too. "These are really good if you freeze em," they comment lazily as they stack up all their loot on the counter.
Jack opens his mouth to speak, then closes it again with a huff of a laugh as that scribbly blush reappears. "Yeah well. I'm easy, but sometimes I'm also dumb as bricks. It all worked out in the end, didn't it?" He gently hipchecks them.
"I dunno, has it?" But their broken-mirror eyes are glittering with amusement as they return the hipcheck and dig in their pockets for a debit card that says JUNE DESROCHERS on it. Look, when you don't legally exist, your rich girlfriends just give you cards to use. They pay for the lot of it and then tuck the card away, pulling out their phone to call a Lyft. "I don't tend to ... pursue people I don't think are interested," they add drily.
"Hey, I mean you're buying me dinner, it worked out just fine for me." Jack winks at them. "And like I said. Dumb as bricks sometimes."
They snort at Jack, reaching over to pinch his side playfully and then picking up the bag. "Buying you dinner and holding the door," they droll, while doing exactly that. They can't wink back, so Teagan smirks instead.
"Well fuck, I got real lucky..." Jack smirks back and strides through the door with a wave at the guy behind the counter.
"It's not...too weird that I keep coming over to your place, right?" he says after both of them are outside and waiting for the Lyft. "Instead of us splitting between mine, I mean..."
They tip their chin up toward the guy behind the counter. "Thanks, man. Take care of yourself." And then they follow Jack out into the cold, the door thudding behind them as it falls shut.
They roll their shoulders lazily; the bag hangs from one of their hands loosely and they loop their arm around his shoulders as if this is all perfectly normal. "I honestly hadn't thought about it," they answer. "I figured that was just your preference. ... is it weird?"
Jack tenses for a second, at that casual touch, but he soon relaxes into it. It's too damn cold to get too flustered about being close. "I...dunno," Jack shrugs at Teagan's question. "'F you don't care, I don't. I just...don't want it to come across like I don't like having you around, or something. I dunno, 's...it doesn't matter, I guess." Another shrug.
His fluster makes Teagan pause, a smaller version of that freeze that Jack saw at the bonfire. Not so much tension, just a sudden total absence of movement. "It clearly matters, or you wouldn't have brought it up," the Mirrorskin quietly prompts; they turn their head toward his, resting their nose against his hair for a half-minute. "It kinda feels like maybe something we should talk about, if you're deflecting."
Jack runs a hand through his hair with a sigh, and that coppery smell that lingers just under the rainstorm, metallic and almost undetectable during the majority of the time that he and Teagan have spent together, gets a little stronger.
Smells like blood, to be honest.
"...Maybe. Prob'ly. When we get back to your place, maybe? And after I've shoved this food in my face?"
The smell of blood makes Teagan's movements slow again, and everything they do is very deliberate, very careful. The corners of their mouth curl up in a small smile, which is carefully soft, and then they tighten their arm around his shoulders. "Okay. After food, at my place," they agree, and then lapse into companionable silence until the Lyft arrives.
Jack's happy to stay silent, and he even rests his head on Teagan's shoulder once they're in the car. Slowly, carefully, and he doesn't say anything about it either. The slightly too loud electropop music that the Lyft driver is playing makes it a little hard to talk, anyway.
He huffs out a breath once they're back out in the cold in front of the DA house, his breath fogging in the air. "D'you know who's home, tonight?"
They lean their head against his head, companionable and quiet through the ride. The electropop really like... provides a good excuse not to talk, and Teagan's a-ok with that.
They hold the door for Jack, as is their rite and custom, apparently. "I don't. Probably Sigi is home, because she usually is unless she's actually at the firehouse, but she might be out in the forge." Which is right near the firepit. "Do you -- want to go inside, or?" They'd talked about sitting by the fire, but now they've got this Damoclean Sword of Conversation.
"Yeah inside...is warm, and there's no worry about smoke in our faces." He offers them a smile. And not as much worry about being interrupted during that Conversation, but he doesn't say that.
It's a familiar ritual at this point, going into the house and making his way toward Teagan's room with them by his side. And so that's where he'll go, unless they have other plans.
"Right," agrees Teagan to all the spoken and unspoken things. They knit their fingers into his for a moment, and squeeze once, before letting go so they can both carry the food and open the door.
This is becoming ritual at this point, indeed. They stop inside the door, kick off their boots, hang up their coat, and head for their room. They meander over to the couch in their room and set the food down on it, offering him a lopsided half smile. The new belt that Baby's holster hangs from? Unbuckled and taken off, the machete set aside on the side table.
Jack's boots come off at the door too, but his jacket and bag come with him to Teagan's room, where he drops them both to the ground with a quiet groan. The bag clanks against the floor, and he pads over to the small couch by the window.
The cheesesteak is unwrapped and half of it consumed before he even says a word, and finally he sits back with a sigh. "Jesus I feel so much better now..."
They settle back into the couch, unwrap their steak, and eat half of it in that companionable silence which is such a hallmark of Teagan when they're comfortable. The mirror just reflects the person near them, after all, and when Jack is comfortable, so are they. They crack open their soda, carefully letting out a bit of the gas at a time so they don't end up with fizzy soda overflow all over the couch, and pull their legs up onto the couch, sitting cross-legged with their steak in their lap.
"Yeah, well, you gotta fucking eat. Am I gonna have to like, let it slip to Adora that you don't eat lunch during long show days?" Their nose wrinkles up in amusement.
"I just...forget, sometimes. Get distracted, and then suddenly break's over, and figure I can live on coffee and granola bars if I gotta. And then I forget to eat the granola bars..." He shrugs, but he looks a little sheepish, and he tugs open the bag of popcorn to munch on. "I'm kinda used to it, at this point, I either pick something up on the way home or raid the fridge, you know?"
"I mean, that's fair. You can't live on coffee and granola, but at least I can follow the logic." Teagan eats about 2/3 of their cheesesteak, wraps up the rest, and puts it aside on the end table next to Baby. They wrap both of their hands around their Coke, tipping their head and looking sidelong at Jack, his scribbly face reflecting in broken pieces in their shattered-mirror eyes. "Well, now you've eaten, so."
"...Yeah." Jack's silhouette goes a little flickery, and he wraps up the other half of the cheesesteak for now. "I...I mean I dunno what to say, really? I don't...wanna come off as...not 'taking advantage', but...expecting to be...hosted? I guess? It...mmh." He starts to frown, clearly frustrated that he can't quite figure out the right words.
"... oh, I meant 'now you've eaten so you will feel better,'" laughs Teagan, reaching over to ruffle Jack's hair. They take another sip of their coke and put it aside on the end table. "Do you feel uncomfortable bringing me over to your house? Or are you just more comfortable being here?"
"I don't -- really mind -- being the default host. But it seems to be bothering you, so we should talk about it."
"...Oh." His blush is more smudgy than scribbly, this time around, and he leans into their hand with a sheepish smile. "Yeah I feel a little better. But...I don't know what's bothering me, honestly. I guess just...I don't shit to feel...unequal? But somehow it's felt like a capital B Big Deal to bring anyone home, for me. 'S not just you. So who the fuck knows."
The leaning into their hand prompts more touch; Teagan's mirror-dark fingers card through his hair, trace down to the back of his neck. Their hand curls around the back of said neck both comfortably and in that subtle possessiveness that seems to only come out when they're alone together. "Hmm," agrees the Mirrorskin quietly. "So it's a Big Deal to bring anyone home at all, not just me." They tip their head to the opposite side, giving Jack their profile, thinking, perhaps. "Have you been apologizing to a lot of people about that, or just me?" Not so much splitting hairs as holding the expressed feeling up like raising a shard of glass into the light, seeing which way the light prisms through it.
Jack sighs, shifting a little closer to the Mirrorskin so he can relax against them. "'Not just you, no, but...not in as many words with anyone else, I don't think. Not that there's a lotta people I have sex with enough to merit having a conversation with..."
They click their tongue against the roof of their mouth, curling Jack in against their side and resting the top of their head against his. "Well, I'm glad you're talking to me about your feelings. That makes me feel pretty good, actually." Curling their fingers through his hair, they go quiet for a minute. "I don't feel like things are uneven between us in that sense, but if you do, we can talk about how to like... change that."
"Hmm," comes in response to the last sentence of his. It's a soft, sort of contented sound, with a thoughtful curl on the end of it.
"I mean if you don't feel like shit's uneven, then 's fine. Just wanted to make sure it's okay with you, mostly." He shrugs.
"'Hmm,' what?" He asks after a moment of silence, turning to look up at them. His face is still a little flickery, but it's calmed down enough to clearly see his expression - one of tentative curiosity.
"It doesn't bother me," answers Teagan. "It's not like you're embarrassed of me or anything, or are hiding... stuff...
You know, the relationship this definitely isn't, nope, "which is when it would bother me." Their fingers continue to curl through his hair.
"Hmm?" As if they didn't really notice they'd made a noise, and have to sort of backtrack through the last few seconds. "Oh. I -- " And now it's the Mirrorskin's turn to pause and look for words. " -- I have no opinion one way or another on how many people you have sex with, or how frequently you do so with any particular person, really, but it's nice to... matter enough to have this conversation, I guess. To be an exception."
"Mmm." Jack nods. "Yeah, I'd say I don't...know how public we wanna be with...affection and shit, but...not hiding it, no." A small smile, there.
"And I mean...we talk about shit, you know? Even without all..." he gestures to the bed, "we've always kinda talked. 'S not like you picked me up at a bar for a one night stand that turned into something more extended, yeah? 'S different. Good different."
Their forehead wrinkles up at that first bit. "No?" Teagan pauses at 'I don't know.' "Do you not know, or do you not want to, and you're trying to say it in a way that you think will upset me less?" Their scarred palm absently rubs at their cheek.
"Well, yeah, that's true." A soft puff of air. "And it is good different. You just -- can never exactly tell what's going to happen when... " and they mirror his bedward gesture.
"I..." Bits of charcoal fly away from his silhouette to dissolve into nothingness. "We just haven't really talked about it, so yeah I...just don't know. I...haven't had to untangle the etiquette of how to interact with someone you're fucking in public, in front of mutual friends and partners in a while. Especially without having talked about it, first..." He runs his fingers through his hair.
They lean down to boop the tip of his nose with theirs when he blushes. "That's fair. I haven't, either. I mean -- I used to have to untangle that all the time, because I used to be a lot more ... profligate, I think the word is. Promiscuous. A lot more. When we came back to Philly there was just so much -- stuff -- going on, that... " A vague shrug. "I mean there was Sturm and everything. So I just kind of stopped."
"So we should probably talk about that."
"I didn't used to see anyone for long enough for it to ever be an issue needing untangling..." Jack admits. "But...yeah. What...how...d'you have any thoughts, about it...?"
"Yeah, well. Back in the day, that was me, too. Back before... " And then the Mirrorskin stops and laughs. "Back before June basically climbed me like a tree and fell asleep on my head. Metaphorically speaking. On account of the whole red panda thing."
They pause, then, and sit back, looking down at him and reflecting back his curious expression in their shattered-mirror eyes. "I ... tend to be pretty casually affectionate. Which. I guess you already figured out."
"Yeah, I...I mean I've seen you with your motley around, it's just been...I dunno, I didn't expect it to extend to me. 'S not bad, I'm just...still kinda wrapping my brain around it? And I don't..." he pauses, his nose wrinkling slightly as he thinks. "I don't wanna come across like I think we've got what you've got with all them. 'Cause I know we don't, and I dunno 'f there's a meaningful distinction as far as being affectionate goes, but. I'm just...aware. Of that. Not a bad thing, just is." He shrugs and tilts his face up to give them a slow, but fairly chaste, kiss.
They pause for a moment or three, sorting through all of the statements and implications. "I don't know that it's ... 'extending to you' the things which are a part of my motley's relationship as much as I'm just being affectionate with you in the way that I want to be affectionate with you, and that... kind of looks similar to the way I'm affectionate with them." Which has its own implications but let's cruise on past that right now.
"If that makes sense."
They offer, "the reverse is true, you know. I don't presume to think that -- " and a vague sort of gesture with one hand, but then there's a kiss, and they return that, instead.
Look, kissing is so much easier than talking, really. Though he does make a small noise of affirmation at what they've said, nodding his head as he drapes an arm over their shoulder.
And starts to kiss along their jaw, until he can nuzzle against the crook of their neck. "Mostly just wasn't expecting it, I think. The affection. Still catches me by surprise, 'cause like you said, it looks..." he trails off with a gesture, rather than full-on repeating them.
Kissing is much, much easier than talking. That's been sort of a constant of Teagan's life, to be honest. They tip their head, allowing him access to the line of their jaw, and letting out a contented little sigh. The arm around him, with his arm draped around their shoulder, turns into both arms pulling him into their lap, as is their rite and custom.
"A bad unexpected?" Teagan prompts quietly. Oh, this game of relationship chicken.
"Uh uh." Jack shakes his head into Teagan's neck as he settles into their lap, and kisses their neck now, too. "I just fuckin'...short-circuit a little. Wonder 'f you've mistaken me for someone else. Y'know."
Does Teagan know? Jack's gotten down to the business of making sure their neck and shoulders are thoroughly covered with kisses, now, possibly trying to distract them from thinking about all this for too much longer.
Their arms wrap lazily around him, and Teagan lolls their head to one side, leaving him access to their mirror-dark skin. They let out a long, slow sigh at all of those scattered kisses over their throat and shoulder. Do they know, though?
Well, in any case, they turn their face toward his, and break off the kisses and distractions by curling the long fingers of one hand along his cheek. The scar that crosses their palm rests just underneath his chin, and they stare down at him for a moment. Those fractions and fragments of his face, scribbles and smudged charcoal and all, reflect back to him, and their voice drops into a vocal-fry near-whisper.
"Scribbles. I could never mistake you for anyone else. I know you. There's ... no mistakes being made."
Jack's eyes track the fractured reflections of his now very scribbly cheeks on Teagan's mirrored face, and he lazily curls a lot of their hair around his finger.
And then they speak. And it's just...too much for him to look at, this Mirrorskin being so sincere, and his eyes close as he nods.
"Yeah. Yeah I...I know," he whispers. "I'll get used to it, eventually. I'm sure." A beat. "Don't want you to stop, in any case."
He closes his eyes, and Teagan's fingers trace slow curves across his scribbly cheeks; their thumb drags along his cheekbone, down the plane of his cheek, coming to rest at his jawline. "I have no intention of stopping, Scribbles. That much, at least, I can say."
Their nose brushes his, and their lips follow, a small, feather-light kiss.
"Good." The sides of Jack's mouth twitch upward, and he wrinkles his nose at the kiss, opening his eyes to grin at them. "I'd hate if this conversation ended with that sort'a thing, the whole point was to hopefully make us more...comfortable together, I guess? I...still dunno exactly how to respond, to all this affection. 'Specially in public."
The corner of their mouth curls up just so, and their hand continues to cradle his cheek, watching all of his reactions, reflecting them back to him in the shattered pits of their eyes. "I think it's more likely to end the opposite," Teagan answers quietly, their voice husky and just above a whisper.
"Do you not know how to respond, or how you want to respond, or... ?"
"I..." Jack trails off before he can say 'I don't know' again. "I don't wanna...overstep. Anything. Since we haven't really...talked about boundaries and that shit...really at all. Or..." he grimaces slightly. "I mean fuck, or where this is going. So I get...stuck, I guess. Not wanting to go too far, or something."
The Mirrorskin takes a deep breath, leans to kiss him again. It's a tiny, fleeting thing, and they draw back, letting out a soft sigh. "Well," Teagan answers, "If there are answers you need... we need... to find... "
"I understand getting stuck, and that -- that isn't a way I want you to feel."
"I mean..." Jack leans in as they draw back, offering a more lingering kiss, if they'll let him. "Fuckbuddies who're affectionate in public's an answer."
They'll let him, returning it exactly in kind. Their thumb brushes down the side of his throat, fingers slipping to cradle the back of his skull now. "It is an answer," agrees the Mirrorskin, their voice barely above a whisper. Quiet, private, soft. Words meant just for him. "Is that the answer you want?"
"Ah..." He trails off, because their hand is now very distracting, and his cheeks bloom in a scribbly blush. "'S...fine with me. 'F It's good with you."
Their hand curls in that possessive gesture around the back of his skull, the side of his throat. That scribbly blush makes them smile all the broader, and then his hesitant words make their smile turn a little. They're so good at hiding their reactions, maybe the subtle shimmer in their eyes and the twist at the corner of their mouth goes unseen. Teagan kisses them instead of answering. That's an answer, right?
Whether it's an answer or not, it's a clear sign that talking gets to be over, now, which is more than alright with Jack. He curls up in their lap, one arm around their waist and one draped over their shoulder, seemingly content to spend the next little while just like this.
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