Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jayce sank into a heavy sleep and was woken from it only half an hour later by a sharp stab of pain from his ribs. He’d apparently shifted in his sleep into a particularly painful position and was now paying the consequences. It took five minutes before he’d gotten enough of his breath back and was actually willing to try sitting up. Levering himself up was a problem simply because of sheer exhaustion but he managed it and prodded hesitantly at his chest and side, half-expecting to see part of his ribcage poking out. It wasn’t and it was probably only badly bruised but it still hurt like hell.

And his head was bleeding again. With a muttered curse, Jayce snagged his used towel off the floor with his foot and wrapped it around his head like a turban to catch any blood before it stained the rest of his sheets and curled up again, tucking his blankets around his body to keep warm. There was nothing life threatening about his injuries, at least he didn’t think so and he was so tired he really didn’t care, it was just a pain and a nuisance and he wanted to fall back to sleep.

His last thought before he finally did return to dreamland was whether Olga would get his text or not. He had left the front door unlocked for her.

It was probably a good thing she waited until morning because his response to being woken up from such a heavy sleep would have been incoherent grumbling and awkwardly thrown pillows. As it was, she’d probably only get the grumbling.

When she did make it into his room, Jayce was roused by her voice and returned to a world that had given up all pretense of kindness. He had been drooling and his cheeks were wet, his naked butt was only partially concealed by the twisted blankets and it felt like someone had taken a jackhammer to his head.

"Fuuuuuuuck," he groaned, rolling onto his belly and smothering his face into the pillow. He stayed that way until he realized he couldn't breath and that would be a really pathetic way to die, and then only turned his head enough so that he could give Olga an unhappy scowl.

"Please tell me it’s aspirin."

Jayce stared at her for a confused minute, not entirely sure why she’d decided to bury her face behind the bag until he finally pushed himself up onto an elbow and realized his a** was a bit colder than everywhere else. Oh. He laughed and then immediately regretted it.

"Close your eyes or something and gimme a sec," he told her and then didn’t wait to see if she would comply before he’d sat up with a grunt and wince, pushing the blankets completely aside and sitting at the edge of her bed until everything stopped swimming. There was dried blood on his head and the towel turban that had fallen aside was crusted with more dark stains.

He dragged a pillow into his lap for the sake of modesty.

"Pass me my pants, please."

There was a pair of sweatpants near her feet, just one of the many pieces of clothing in his room scattered haphazardly across the floor.

He caught the pants by the leg and put them on, so slowly he wondered if this was what it was like to be an eighty year old and full of aches and pains. "Ugh," he grunted and then pushed himself to his feet. "Yeah, but I got off pretty lucky actually, so I’m not going to complain too much." He said and then he was walking towards her.

It was so good to see her and even knowing she was probably his best friend right now, he was surprised by the sheer giddy affection he felt from just having her here with him, blushing and looking ridiculous with the McDonalds bag held up high.

"Come here you," was really all the warning he gave before he was batting the bag aside and pulling her into a hug. It hurt, his ribs ached but he didn’t care. "Yesterday was a ******** nightmare." He muttered into the side of her face and fought the urge to cry like a baby seeking comfort from its mother.

He hadn’t meant to force her to drop the food but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He was too focused on holding her close, taking the comfort she offered. It was a strange feeling. He had always been independent. Of course he had friends but when times were tough, he didn’t go to them for a hug just to feel better, he simply dealt with it. To need this so badly and feel it washing away his fears, was a revelation.

Jayce didn’t say anything for a long time, just soaked up her warmth and let it remind himself that he’d survived where others hadn’t and that he wouldn’t waste it.

Eventually he pulled away slightly, a shift back but not out of her grasp entirely. "You’re taller than me," he remarked, as if their height difference had only just occurred to him now that they close. He smiled, friendly and open. "And don’t... don’t be sorry, for anything. It was always going to be a shitshow but I never anticipated just how bad. I’m glad you weren’t there."

The smile was gone now, exchanged to a grimace. "So many died."

It really had been an awesome hug.

"No," he said, shaking his head. It had been okay on his own. In the midst of the chaos it was almost easy to weigh up your own life, to know you could die and using that knowledge to smother your fear and focus on surviving just that little bit longer. If she’d been there, if she’d gotten hurt...

He almost kissed her then. The thought crossed his mind unbidden. It would be so easy to lean in and ask for more than a hug. But then the thought was gone, banished before the idea fully formed because what they had right now was fine. It was good enough and he wouldn’t want to be the one to ruin it.

"Just wait until you hear the whole thing." Jayce let out a sigh and bent to pick up the bag. "But first, let’s eat."

"In that case, I think it’s something you need to know." He gave a wry smile. "Otherwise you won’t understand what everyone is shouting about when the Negaverse ultimately retaliates." Because they would. You didn’t need to be a senior senshi to realize this was going to piss them off really badly and they would be looking to take it out on everyone and anyone.

When the attention shifted back to his wounds, he had a startled oh yeah I’m a mess moment. "Yeah, that’s... good idea." He held the bag out to her. "Go wait in the living room. I’ll have a shower and call you if I need any help patching myself up."

It was a miracle Olga even found space on the couch, most of it was taken up by a pile of dirty laundry that both Jayce and Corey had been planning on washing for about a week. If by planning you mean holding out as long as they could until the other person got annoyed enough about having no clothes and washed everything. The rest of the room had a similar look, typical of two barely adult men that hadn’t heard of cleaning. The kitchenette, however, was utterly spotless.

Jayce had already gotten rid of the worst of the near-death-experience-grime the night before and was now focused in getting rid of the dried blood in his hair. It ran bright red down the drain, swirling at his feet. By the time he was done and towelling down, he felt ten times better. The cut on his head was purple and bruised, swollen to the touch but it had stopped bleeding and he covered it with a little patch of gauze for good measure. There wasn’t much to be done about his ribs, other than try not to jostle them too much.

In sweatpants and a tshirt, he padded out barefoot to the living room. He shoved the pile of clothes carelessly onto the floor and carefully curled up next to Olga on the couch, snatching up the bag in the process and peering inside. "Okay, so..." he started but stopped when he finished out an egg and bacon mcmuffin, unwrapping and then devouring half of it in one bite. "Mmph." It felt like he hadn’t eaten for days.