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 Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 9:05 am
It was late, the evening was well fallen and your parents out for a romantic dinner. It might be truly for the purpose of romance, or it might have been for appearances… hard to say some weeks. Xander was, as was growing to be normal - out on a date with his new Boyfriend. So you, were alone, studying for the encroaching deadline. That said, there was really no solid reason for the knock not to have been on the front door. It came instead, all the same on the window, a small -clack- against the window, another shortly after, if the second went ignored, the third clack. Outside the window, with another pebble in hand and bags and a cooler at her feet was… Q. She had her ‘no bullshit’ look on her face and as soon as she knew she was seen making an ‘push up’ movement with her hands - waiting for you to open the window.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 9:46 am
Being home alone was only a slight comfort to Jace, who found that without the awareness that someone was in the house, every unexplained noise seemed particularly suspicious.
He was hunched over his desk, book open and elbows propped on the desk. He held his hand firmly between both hands, like he had to force himself to stay attentive and look at the pages. He had reread the same paragraph three times by the time the first pebble hit his window.
Just a bug, probably.
The second pebble, just the house making noise.
The third, Jace huffed loudly and stood up, keen on just yelling at whoever thought it was fun to harass him like this.
Except, he got up, and he saw her, and he had an immediate 'Oh, s**t' expression and hastily opened the window.
His room was clean. Immaculate. Like nobody even lived there. He was clean, even if it had only been a ten minute shower a few hours ago to force himself to stay awake. His clothes were fresh, and he almost even looked presentable, if not for the fact that he knew she'd be able to tell that he was on his second all-nighter this week.
"Tanwen," he greeted, as if using her full name were somehow more respectful than the nickname she'd adopted years ago.
...As if using her full name wasn't a red flag in itself that he suspected he was in trouble.
"Q," he corrected, pushing the window open all the way extending an arm to help her in--because she was here and that meant she was coming in one way or the other and he suspected there wasn't really anything to stop her from breaking the window if she wanted. For all he knew she'd already made a copy of his house key and this was just a test. "--What are you doing here?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 9:56 am
The look She gave him for the use of her proper name could have killed a lesser man. She scooped up the bags and marched forward, heavy boots all buckles clearly stomping despite the grass and mulch around the plants. “I don’t think I need to remind you, I am never without something -pointy-.” She said and offered up one of the bags with sloshed and sounded a bit like ‘ice’ was involved. “I brought you food. I am not going to ask when you ate last, we both know it was too long ago. There are bags under your eyes I could use as matching luggage. I need a break from Doctor studies, and you need one from your studies. WE are going to sit down, and have a break.” She handed the cooler up next, and last a bag that felt ‘warm’ even now. Seemed like her break was more of a ‘bedroom floor picnic.’ It was only AFTER he accepted all the food that she’d jut an arm up for him to take and help her in. “I swear if you don’t start taking care of yourself I am going to get a second degree in Mortuary science so that I can stab your CORPSE.” She added.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 10:09 am
Jace wanted to groan at her threats; he accepted the bags and ferried them into the room quickly so as not to keep her waiting. He stacked them on the floor and moved everything away from the window so she could get in with less trouble.
"Yeah, I remember the pointy things, Q," he muttered. "I have a front door, you know, did you just want to remind me that you know where I sleep and show me how easy it would be for you to break in?"
...Not that he was sleeping much, but the idea made him squirm a little, anyway.
She said she wasn't going to ask when he last ate, so he wasn't going to have to answer that it was at least within the last twelve hours, especially if you counted the coffee he'd had for breakfast.
He took her arm and stood by so she could use him for support while she climbed in. "I am taking care of myself. I don't know what Xander's been telling you, or his boyfriend," he jabbed, because he was still sore about being in the dark for so long. "Plenty of people don't get eight hours of sleep a night."
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 10:30 am
“Well, if anyone is planning to break into your house now they know I can find and murder them with needles.” She said with the sort of dry tone that left people guessing if she was joking or not. “Yes plenty of people are in fact sleep deprived, I myself understand that, but you take it to a WHOLE new level. You’re 'shift at a hospital' sleep-deprived and that shouldn’t happen regardless. Flawed systems should not be imitated!!” She gave a light punch in his arm and didn’t say a word about the dating situation. “Also no one had to tell me -anything, I know you, Jace. Holden almost came too but something came up. He sends … marshmallows?” She made a face and shook her head clearly not understanding. “So I brought marshmallows. I was not under the impression you liked them but…who am I to subdue his artistic vision?” She pulled out a pair of 'marshmallow twists' wrapped around wooden sticks. Pale pastel colors wrapped in cellophane with little hot chocolate packets tied to them from one of the bags.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 11:49 am
Jace felt his face heat up with the mention of marshmallows and he huffed indignantly. "I don't," he said of them, but still seemed too eager to accept them. "They're too messy and he knows that. He's teasing me."
He grumbled but didn't protest beyond that, even muttering a little word of thanks.
It was hard to argue with Q and he was already low on energy so didn't make much of an effort. Instead, he rubbed at his arm where she'd hit, instinctive more so than because it had actually hurt.
"You all know that as soon as I pass this test I'll go back to normal, right? It's not like this is how I'm going to live the rest of my life. A month of this isn't going to kill me," he protested, lips slightly pursed as he poked at the marshmallows.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 12:22 pm
She arched an eyebrow at the idea of ‘messy marshmallows’ but maybe he meant something like toasting them, so she let it slide. For now. That was a heck of a good blush after all. “Normal for you is still a lot.” Q countered. “And I know how hard you’d push yourself if your mother said you weren’t moving a case along fast enough, EVEN if part of that depended on getting in to see a judge.” She pointed a finger at him. “Also… it very well could, so don’t argue with me, I’m going to be a doctor.” She reached out and tapped the end of his nose with a huff and started unpacking. Toasted sandwiches, two salads, Boba, two for each of them it looked like and offered a sneak peek into the cooler, a little plastic box held a selection of ice cream mochi. “You put up with me that night I couldn’t stop CRYING.” She said turning a light shade of pink. She still wouldn’t talk about why she’d cried, but it was a big deal for her. “So you get to deal with me bringing you food.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 1:41 pm
That she'd even brought up that night at all made Jace abandon absolutely any thought of arguing with her. He made a gruff noise as he eyed her array of treats, and set the marshmallows down to be appreciated at a later time.
"I think it's supposed to be my job to argue," he pointed out. "...So you're good practice, since you never back down."
It wasn't an argument; if they weren't arguing, he couldn't lose, and then he could keep his perfect track record and Q could still get what she wanted.
...And, to be honest, food really did sound good, now that it was all in front of him like this.
"I just--I think if I can pass this test, maybe she'll trust me more, you know?" he suggested. "I'm shaving years off of schooling. This is what she's wanted since I was in like, elementary school. So it's really important to her, and I don't want to mess it up. She already thinks I'm not taking it seriously, so if I pass--when I pass," he corrected, because 'believing in yourself was half the battle'--or something, no it wasn't, stop talking and go back to studying right now--he paused, shook his head, taking a seat in his desk chair. "When I pass, all I have to do is stay on top of things and refresh myself every now and then. And I'll have to spend more time resting so I'm full prepared to walk into Court ready to kick a**. No one's going to take me seriously if I look like I just rolled out of bed, so I'm just getting all that out now."
It might have been a convincing lie, he might have even actually convinced himself of it. Jace wasn't stupid enough to think that reaching one milestone meant he could be done; his mother would always place more obstacles for him to overcome.
No, he wasn't stupid enough. Just desperate enough.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 2:13 pm
“Because I am right, and you will eventually learn that.” She said and brandished a straw at you before sighing. “I Should have gotten something with fries. But I am trying to eat healthy this week.” She sighed and unwrapped one of the sandwiches, giving it a quick inspection before handing it over and picking up the second one which was apparently hers. “When you pass, indeed.” She said firmly. “I just…” She sighed. “Hmmm…” She shook her head biting back whatever pithy statement might have followed and instead replaced it with “Eat.” said with the authority of the ruler of a country, and not a small one either. “If you need an out, You know we’re there for you. I mean, I know you KNOW that, but you also don’t know that.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 2:29 pm
Jace accepted the straw, the sandwich, and the scrutiny with various levels of appreciation.
"I don't know what I know but don't know," he said before taking a bite. It was good. But then, he'd have been a fool to have ever doubted Q.
"I do know that you're here for me, because you're in my room, with food." Another bite, chew, swallow, so she couldn't say he wasn't eating enough. "Thank you for that, by the way. If you've got a 'but...' you're holding onto, just spit it out. Xander warned me that if I kept this up you'd probably wind up here to put me in my place. Where are you hiding your needles, in your boots? As soon as I turn around, you'll stick me, and I'll sleep for a week or something? --It's not that bad, Q."
He almost sounded like he believed it, and lowered the sandwich for just a second to speak honestly. "It looks bad. I know it looks bad. And I'm sorry I haven't been texting you all as much. I have to pass. That's all this is. I'm not going to have another test like this. So, I have to make this one count."
He spoke as if he didn't pass the first time then he couldn't just retake the test in a few months.
"I don't want an out. I just want to pass. I don't know what else to do except for this. It's always worked before. I mean, it got me to where I am today, so..."
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 3:49 pm
‘You know we SAY you have a place with us that’s safe, but that's wholly different from knowing on an emotional level that that’s true.” She said calmly. “It would take a lot more than anything I could say to shake you out of the idea that this is… okay to do, I’d wreck our friendship without meaning to before I could say all the things I want to say.” She sighed and looked at him with one of those rare softer looks.
“Someday….” She said “Someday, you’ll realize you’re more than the… idea she has of you. No matter how perfect she thinks it is, you’re more. She sighed and shook her head. “Argue and I’ll make you pick the first mochi.” She added. “And I will not tell you what the new flavors are!” She pointed a finger at him then took a bite of her own sandwich. “Also…WHEN you pass, your mother does not get to keep us from kidnapping you to celebrate. I will kick in the door with my very awesome boots if I must. I will recruit Callan! I also still claim the right to talk you into a piercing - or try to once you get your own place. Pretty sure I could talk your brother into getting his tongue pierced.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 5:03 pm
There were some topics that made Jace uncomfortable, and his relationship with his mother was one of them. It was not uncommon for him to defend her, usually aggressively, and to storm away. It was difficult to do when he was in his own room, so instead his gaze settled on the far corner and he glared all his annoyance into the wall.
It was easier to be mad at someone who wasn't giving him such a soft look. Especially Q.
Maybe there was something of guilt in his expression, but he didn't let the emotion fester. He took another bite of his sandwich, quiet and doing his best to refrain from some sort of outburst. The oversized bite was enough to force him to hold his tongue for a moment, and he even managed to chew it for longer than need be.
He swallowed and, when he spoke, it was quiet and tempered. "You make it sound like I'm not safe here. You can look around. I've got everything I need. I get paid for the work I do for them. I've got food, they pay for my college." They didn't have to pay for all of it, though; he'd gotten scholarships on his own, but he probably would have found a way to credit his mother for that, too.
"She just wants me to have more opportunities than she did. She had to fight tooth and nail to get to where she is, and nobody took her seriously until she was tearing their throats out. She's just trying to make things easier for me. If I can do this, I don't start at the bottom. I'm going into it better than the competition. She's said it best herself, if I was doing law school I'd have to go at everyone else's pace. Where I'm at now--if I had gone the traditional route? I might not even be starting law school until later this year. So--her idea of me? It's still better than her idea of everyone else. And I'm not going to give her any reason to think otherwise. All I have to do is prove that I'm worth it." It was a slip of a tongue, or so he'd claim, and he corrected, "it's worth it. All the sacrifices she's made to get me here. She's been juggling her case load, managing the firm, and overseeing me. She took a lot of risks for me, and I'm not going to waste them. I'm not going to make her regret all of this. And anyway. I can do this. This is fine. I'm not weak, I can do this. Just. Have faith in me, okay? I know what I'm doing, I've got this."
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 5:17 pm
“Your mother is a strong and determined woman, I can relate to that. But you engage in … habits, and behaviors I don’t personally think are optimal.” She said very carefully. “It could also be your mother dosen’t see it as being unhealthy, there are a lot of cultural differences, I see them when my family travels too.” She gave a small roll of her shoulders. “I am also SO far from saying you’re weak.” She shook her head. “As an outsider, I reserve the right to worry.” “Besides…” She took a bite of sandwich. “Worrying about you, makes me take breaks.” She waved a hand at the food. “If it were just me doing doctor things you would be at my door worrying too.” She fished in the sandwich bag and fished out a chocolate macadamia cookie and tossed it at him. “Let me worry… It’s my excuse if nothing else. I won’t say another word.” She sighed softly.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:37 pm
For a moment longer, Jace was quiet. He caught the cookie and, though he hadn't finish his sandwich, took a bite out of that to pass the moment of silence.
"...You don't have to worry about me," he said again, and this time it sounded like he was trying to be consoling. "Do I need to be worrying about you, doing doctor things and studying too much, too? ...Because, I figure you've got Nelson to worry about you like I've got Xander to worry about me. Or."
He took another bite of the cookie.
"We did."
It wasn't sulking, not really. He didn't know what to call this, how to feel about it. Worried, more than anything. He was happy that his brother was happy, but anxious that things would change.
"I guess I should check in on you more often, now that our brothers are locking lips."
It felt weird to say, and though there was a little bite in his words, it was visibly harmless. He was huffing because he thought she knew more than he did about it.
"...I'll be better about all of this soon. I won't be such a bad friend. I'm...sorry for making you worry. Please don't convince my brother to get a tongue piercing. He's too impulsive and he'll probably agree to it if you even remotely hype it up. I'm not ready for mom to disown him."
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 7:07 pm
“Exactly.” She said and rolled her eyes. “Took them long enough.” She added. “ some people are just…really oblivious when it comes to realizing that they like each other.” She gave a soft laugh and shook her head. “I promise to at least wait till we get you out of here before I attempt to hype either of you on any piercings.” She said and made a sort of ‘blessing’ sign with her hand. “When we are both done, you…me and holden are going to a SPA.” She said firmly. “Xander and Nelson can figure out their own trip, I don’t want to watch them being romantic while getting a hot stone massage. But Holden probably could use a treat after his recent, everything even with his soft-hearted bear of a brother. You and I could absolutely use a first-hand experience in actual relaxation.”
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