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 Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 11:33 am
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Once their punishment was complete, Jonah went home and cried into his pillow. Even if their punishment had been incredibly mild compared to what he knew, or assumed, was possible, Jonah could not help but feel disappointed with himself. He only ever wanted to serve the Negaverse faithfully, to assist his superiors by whatever means he was capable of, especially when they’d been so kind as to offer him a place among them.
After he cried himself to sleep, Jonah slept until early afternoon. When he felt no better after lunch, he texted Yuuri and, once he received an affirmative answer, dragged himself over to the apartment Yuuri shared with a friend.
Jonah knocked dejectedly, drooping in the hallway from shame more than heat.
Misha was used to being around Yuuri’s other friends. Not that he’d met more than Eion and Jonah, but two friends were more friends than none! Misha, being the bubbly sort, tended to consider himself their friend, too, once all the initial introductions were out of the way, but he also tried not to force his friendship onto anyone, because… well, some people didn’t want it. He accepted their quirks, though some were certainly more amusing than others.
So Misha opened the door with a cheerful smile.
“Yuuri, you have company!” he called out to the rest of the apartment.
“Are you okay?” he asked Jonah, ushering him inside. “You look a little dejected. Would you like some tea? Oh, but it’s so hot out. We have lemonade instead of you’d rather have that.”
“Tea is fine, thank you,” Jonah mumbled, slumping into an armchair in the living area just off of the kitchen.
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 12:08 pm
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At least in Yuuri’s experience, it wasn’t too often that Jonah sought out company when he could be with August instead. Yuuri still dreaded ever seeing the man, powered or not. He didn’t want Jonah to be around him, but he also couldn’t force him to do something just because Yuuri had a bad feeling about the guy.
Oh, and the fact that he almost killed him. And that he was going to if he hadn’t been part of the Negaverse already.
When he heard Misha open the door and call from the living room, Yuuri saved the edits he’d made to Misha’s most recent video, carefully shut his laptop, and made his way out to see a very upset looking Jonah.
“Did something happen?” Yuuri asked, because he was concerned about his friend. He didn’t look injured, and if that were the case he would likely get help from the doctor. Oh, but if August had been the one to hurt him…?
“We have some pastries too. Justice sent them home with me. He made too many, he said,” he explained, glancing up at the counter where a familiar box was sitting. Axinite apparently bought his boxes from the same place. It was probably cheaper that way.
Yuuri sat down on the couch nearest the armchair. He wanted to reach out to Jonah, but kept his hands to himself.
Despite not liking to be around because he didn’t like talking to people, Lev was home that day. They’d finished up their most recent photoshoot early the day before and he wasn’t expected back in the studio until next week. Which was fine. He said he would help Misha with some of his videos. And it had been a while since he’d been able to take some time for himself and do things he enjoyed. Like cooking.
“Did you break up with your lover?” Lev couldn’t help but ask. It looked that way with how miserable Jonah seemed, but when he got a glare from Yuuri, he just shrugged. He didn’t know Jonah very well, but he knew he was quiet and nice and liked to go out of his way to do things for others.
Probably why it was easy to walk over him. And probably why he was sitting there now, looking like a pet got hit by a car-- Oh…
“Did…--” No, he wasn’t going to ask. He would just get glared at again. So he just mumbled it to himself in Russian because only he and Misha--
Oh, Yuuri knew Russian too, and glared at him again. Whatever, it was entirely possible that someone died. Especially since they were all in the Negaverse.
He was going to put his bet on a lover breaking up with him, though.
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 4:49 pm
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Jonah curled up on the armchair with his arms wrapped around his legs. He put his head down on his knees, but had to glance up again because Lev asked something weird.
“I… I don’t have a lover,” he said.
Out of them all, Jonah knew Lev the least. He knew that Lev was Misha’s brother, and that he worked under General Aquamarine, but beyond that, they barely interacted. Lev was probably just making assumptions. Surely he didn’t mean anything by it.
Jonah sighed heavily and put his head back down.
“I got in trouble with General King Jet,” he said.
Misha went behind the kitchen bar to begin making tea for all of them, but with the apartment being so open, it was easy to maintain conversation.
“How did you manage that?” he asked, genuinely surprised.
If Jet got angry, it was usually because someone did something reckless to sabotage a mission or risk the life of someone else. As far as Misha knew, Jonah hadn’t been involved in any missions lately. He tended to stick to clerical work.
“I was gathering information about General King Jet and General Aquamarine,” Jonah mumbled. “You know, just out of curiosity, because I’d heard things. Just to see if I—... if there were any security concerns with the passing of information, and with… how gossip travels.”
He paused guiltily. Wasn’t he technically gossiping right now?
Jonah cleared his throat, even more nervous than before. “I… I didn’t realize General Bloodstone had any other motive for it, until—... One of his friends is General Aquamarine’s brother, and… August wanted to recruit him, so… he used all the information we’d collected to persuade him. So then Dorian became Jasper and Jasper—... Well, I guess he’s been angry about General Aquamarine being involved with General King Jet for a long time, so he got… aggressive and… he tried to punch Jet.”
Misha paused in the process of filling up the kettle, eyebrows crawling very far up his forehead.
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 4:54 pm
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Yuuri listened with concern once he’d turned his attention off of Lev, making sure he wouldn’t make any other senseless comments, no matter the language. He’d been the one to tell Jonah about how Aquamarine mentioned Ilian, and how it wasn’t difficult to piece together that Jet was the Ilian Aquamarine was crying about when they’d been pulled into that cellar by… whatever unworldly monster had captured them.
“Did he hurt you?” Yuuri asked, almost off of the couch with how far on the edge he was seated. “You’re… you’re not hurt, right?”
He didn’t think Jet would be the type to hurt someone for not being directly involved, but he never knew.
As for Jasper… Lev cringed and shook his head. “There will be a funeral then?”
After all, who in their right minds tried to punch a General King? Not only that, but who would actually survive something like that? He supposed his other assumption had been the right one then. It wasn’t a pet that had died, but a fellow subordinate of Bloodstone’s.
Since he was already quite interested in this conversation, Lev made his way over to the kitchen to help Misha with the tea. He pulled out some of the mugs and set them down, turning them so it would be easy to pour into once the water was done boiling.
“Did… he make you clean up what was left?” Lev asked. He couldn’t help it! There was obviously more to the story than just Jasper being killed for trying to punch Jet. Maybe he was forced to clean up the body once everything was over and done with. Maybe Jet had youma attack Jasper, or maybe he did the dirty work himself. Lev had seen first hand how Jet wasn’t afraid to get his hands (or weapon) dirty.
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 5:01 pm
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Misha swatted at Lev’s arm — not hard, but enough that Lev should know he was being ridiculous.
Part of Jonah wanted to know why Lev’s brain always jumped to the worst conclusion possible, but he was much too distraught (and shy) to ask.
“No,” Jonah said in answer to both Yuuri, who he hoped to reassure, and Lev. “He punched Jasper, but it wasn’t… it wasn’t bad.”
It could have been a lot worse. If Bloodstone had been a General King and found himself on the wrong end of some foolish Lieutenant’s fist, Jonah was fairly certain Bloodstone would have killed the perpetrator. Jet was nowhere near as extreme — a fact which should have been reassuring, but Jonah couldn’t squash the guilt or the misery that came with disappointing someone he respected.
“He called me and General Bloodstone into his office for an explanation, and… Bloodstone was rude, so Jet made Jasper and Bloodstone clean the halls for eight hours. I had to supervise, but I couldn’t help.”
It seemed so ridiculous saying it out loud. Jonah was almost ashamed for being upset.
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Misha said, not to demean, but in an attempt to be reassuring. “If you’re worried that Jet’ll still be angry with you, don’t be. He’s probably way angrier at Bloodstone and Jasper, and maybe a little concerned that it wasn’t that hard for you to figure out who he and Aquamarine are, but… I mean, in your defense, he does go around telling his recruits. Or at least he told me the night I joined, so I assume he’s told the others, too.”
Maybe Jet would rethink that now.
Misha wasn’t worried about getting in trouble himself. He knew Jonah was trustworthy and wouldn’t have gathered the information with any malicious intent.
“I can talk to him about it if you want me to, make sure everything’s okay,” Misha offered, setting the kettle on the stove to heat up.
Jonah sniffled and nodded miserably. He hated to burden anyone else with his problems, but he knew Misha had a good relationship with General King Jet.
Misha prided himself on that good relationship. He liked to think he was the best decision Jet ever made — as far as his recruits were concerned, anyway.
While digging in one of the cabinets for their collection of tea, Misha glanced over his shoulder and asked, “So… I knew Aquamarine has brothers, but I actually don’t know a lot about Dorian. Is he hot?”
Jonah blinked and glanced up again. “Um… I mean… he’s not my type?”
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 5:05 pm
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He was glad that Jonah hadn’t been hurt, but being made to supervise for eight hours after being awake for however long he had been before would have been rough. Sure, there was energy the Negaverse had that they could have used, but that wasn’t the point.
Gently, he reached out to rub his hand over Jonah’s arm, hoping it might offer him a little comfort, but ready to pull his hand back if he didn’t seem like he wanted the physical content.
The topic shift to Aquamarine’s brother being hot or not seemed a bit ridiculous. If he was anything like Aquamarine…? Sure, he would be pretty, but that certainly wasn’t Jonah’s type, and not Yuuri’s either if he was being honest. Probably not even Misha’s. Maybe Lev…? But he didn’t know what kind of person Lev might have been interested in.
Lev was smart enough to know that he would likely not be allowed to date his superior officer’s brother, but it was amusing to think about.
“Is he blond like Aquamarine?” he asked, because he might as well try to put together a mental image. “I just want to know when I see him. Oh, but I suppose it would be easy to tell if he has a big bruise on his face, yeah?”
If Jet hit him, then hopefully it wouldn’t have been an easy hit.
Lev stepped away from Misha to make sure he wasn’t in the immediate vicinity to be swatted at again. He was just curious!
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 5:10 pm
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“No, he’s… a brunette?”
Jonah shot Yuuri a look of confusion. He felt a bit like he had whiplash from the change in topic. Although… it helped a bit to talk about something a little more mundane.
Maybe that was the point?
“He’s… um… not that much taller than I am. Kind of… scruffy looking, maybe. But we might have caught him at a bad time.”
“Hmmmm,” Misha said, like he was seriously considering this information. “I’ll have to track him down, see what he’s like. If I remember right, he’s the most reclusive of Aquamarine’s brothers, so there’s not a lot out there about him.”
“But you know things?” Jonah asked.
Seeing as he lived for gossip, Misha was more than happy to divulge. “Oh, yeah, his mom’s famous! Or his grandparents were, and his mom just kind of… coasts on their legacy. She did some modeling for a while, and tried to act a bit, but I don’t think she had a lot of success. Most of the gossip about her is about who she dates and marries, or like, what she wears. Adele Belrose Rocks String Bikini At Age Sixty-Whatever. Things like that.”
Misha kept bustling around the kitchen as he talked. Once he got going on a subject, there was little stopping him.
“The most important thing is whether or not Dorian has Lovely’s shitty attitude,” he decided. “You know, at first, I could never figure out what Ilian saw in him. Other than his face. I mean, he’s really pretty. Lives up to the silly name, I guess. But then I got a good look at his a** without that cape in the way, and I was, like, ‘Oh, okay. That makes sense.’”
“Um…” Jonah blinked once. Then again when one time didn’t seem to put things to rights. Were they really talking about this now?
As he had nothing to say about the quality of Aquamarine’s a**, Jonah stuck with subjects he was a little more informed on. “Dorian seemed… kind of belligerent, but… not as…” What was a good, non-offensive word for Aquamarine?
“Insufferable?” Misha offered with a bright smile.
Jonah slouched in the armchair and hoped the lower vantage point was enough to conceal any further guilt.
Maybe he should have known this was how things would turn out, given who he was talking to.
He couldn’t say he minded too terribly much.
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