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riverviewlogs2018-08-01 08:31 pm
ππππππ β§ πππππ, πππ, π πππ ππππ πππππππππ
what: housewarming party
when: mid-august
where: jyn & cassian's home
warnings:
--
It's not a very inviting text but since technically Jyn did invite the recipients to come to a location at a predetermined time, that counts as an invitation and Cassian cannot complain. The location is a small cottage home, space masonry covered in the same creeping leafy ivy as the rest of the moon, an overgrown garden on the side of the house being (what looks like violently) cut back to make room for the fresh plots of tiny herbs, each carefully labeled. There's a welcome mat and the door is open with the sounds of music drifting out of the screen door.
(Side note: none of that was there if early recon happened on the [LOCATION], so jot that down. This happened nearly overnight.)
Once inside, it's... shit, is it a party? Is it a party in Jyn and Cassian's new home that they got without telling anyone, moving in the cloak of night so that they could steal literally all of the furniture in their apartment that wasn't nailed down? Well, the shrimp dispenser is there in the kitchen and Jyn's wall of herbs are still there so that must be the case.
That's 100% what happened.
The kitchen is full of food, made by Cassian, and alcohol, and there is a small ginger cat prowling around and a small grey pile of fluff that occasionally makes a noise so it must be alive, the music is low enough to hold a conversation, and of course there is shrimp. Never ending bottomless shrimp. This is the extent of the party but be grateful that a year after Jyn and Cassian arrived in the Quarantine, they're inviting their, like, five friends to their home. Some people have never even seen the apartment, but that time has passed. Pour one out.
In addition to the food, there is one single cake, homemade, because turns out this party doubles as a joint birthday party. You know, for the birthdays neither of them told anyone about.
Yay! Party!
no subject
He does go home. To sleep. When he feels like sleeping. Which isn't all that often. Flying is soothing. Missions keep his mind occupied. Sitting alone in his bachelor apartment makes him want to drink. John may be working himself to the bone and withdrawing from his broken social circle, but at least he isn't hitting the bar anymore.
Seeing Jim across the room, John's struck by how hard he misses a man he sees almost every other day in some capacity. Jim's been there for him. He's always there. It's John who's been somewhere else. Lost in his own head.
On some level, he's been too afraid to reach out. Because he's a coward, and because people he loves leave. In some twisted way, putting distance between himself and the people he's most terrified to lose feels safer. Like maybe they won't be taken away if he removes himself first.
John really is a creature of habit. Regardless of how little those habits have served him over the years. Take away Atlantis, and he's back at square one. An asshole who feels worlds away from the planet he's standing on, but without a gate to rescue him.
He picks his away across the room. Casually. Until he's standing next to Jim. A napkin of shrimp in one hand and the same beer he's been nursing for the past hour in the other. Looking the blonde up and down, he raises a brow.]
Guess they're letting anyone in.
[Said to the guy welcome anywhere, by everyone. An actual friend of the people throwing this very nice party.]
no subject
Too long, he thinks. Doesn't really cross his mind until John's standing next to him, talking to him, and he looks over with near surprise at finding him there.
That jab can't go by unanswered, though. So. First things first. ]
Look who's talking. [ Said with a raised eyebrow mirroring John's own. Then he takes a good, long look at John's face, as though staring at something hiding beneath the surface of his expression. ]
I didn't know you were friends with Jyn and Cassian. [ Because that's how it works, you can't be friends with one and not the other. They come as a set. ]
no subject
[Heβll talk to them. Eventually. Approaching Jim was his soft start. At least he thought it would be. Now that Jimβs in front of him, and theyβre actually making eye-contact, John feels a pang of something in his gut he wasnβt at all prepared for.
And itβs too late to abort the mission.
He scratches the back of his neck with one hand and looks away. Swallowing down his rising emotion. Not here. Not now. This isnβt the time or place for whatever it is heβs been avoiding with the man heβs been too afraid to call his best friend. Itβs easy to ignore at work. Theyβre both busy. Outside of work, Jim has Victor, and something resembling an actual life. Heβs actually made something of himself in this place. All Johnβs done is survive.]
Yeah. Poe invited me. Before you say anything, weβre not- weβre just friends. He thinks I need to get out more. Thatβs all.
So, uh, whatβs up with you?
no subject
[ Y'know, random friendly advice apropos of nothing. Cassian looks... exactly like what he is. Former spy, soldier, fighter down to the bone. He's lived through a lot of shit and it shows. Jyn, however, looks tiny and cute and weak but she is remarkably unstoppable.
Jim frowns at the mention of Poe, even if it's not too surprising to hear. It had looked to him like they'd arrived together, and besides, aside from Jim? John isn't really that close to anyone else here, he thinks. ]
Alright. [ He says it slowly, like he's willing to believe John, even when it's obvious that something's not quite right. Maybe not regarding Poe, but still. ] I'm fine. Same old, you know. We've got a pool in our backyard now, so that's cool.
[ Things with Victor are pretty much as serious as they were before, in his mind at least. Maybe it would bear saying that he has pretty much adopted Lucy at this point, but he doesn't want to rub his happy family life in John's face. So. ]
Are you over him?
[ Sorry, he can't be arsed to be subtle about it. ]
no subject
[A wolf knows another wolf when they see one. Make that two, in this case. Jyn's height and cuteness doesn't detract from the cut of her eyes, and her constant vigilance of the space around her. In John's experience, it's the women you have to watch. Said experience learned at the end of a stick wielded by Teyla Emmagan. There are some lessons a man never forgets. Having his ass repeatedly handed to him by a five-foot-nothing woman was one of them.
John almost spits out his beer when Jim starts in on the inquisition, glaring at him from behind his hand. Maybe this is why he's been avoiding him for a solid month. Because Jim has a way of getting things out of him no one else can, and John hasn't felt ready to share. He never does.
He looks both ways, to make sure a certain someone isn't in the vicinity before responding.]
I dunno. Yeah. I guess. I mean I'm not... crying about it, or anything. We talked. Kinda. Aired some grievances. We're on good terms now. I think. I came to the party, didn't I?
[And they both know how much John loves parties when he's not wasted.
John doesn't know what to think. Poe says he made a mistake. John thinks wanting him back is the biggest mistake of all. He couldn't hack it with Nancy, and Poe saw reasoning, and got out while he could.
Why he wants back with him, if that's really what he wants, can probably be chalked up to Poe's masochistic streak. If John really cares about him, would he indulge him? More selfishly, Poe's well-being (and mental stability) aside, does John want to set himself up for another heartbreak? What happens when Poe comes to his senses a second time?
It's been too much to think about, what with Rodney, Elizabeth, and Carson going back home at the same time. That's a fresher wound. John still hasn't mentioned it to Jim, though it's possible he's put two and two together.]
I think the pool is the bigger news here. Above ground? Cement? Are you going to empty it out during the winter? Can I skateboard it?
no subject
You're not gonna skateboard on my pool. And yeah, it's a proper in-ground cement pool.
[ Quick detour to a more harmless topic, although newsflash: he's not gonna let that go so easily. He presses his lips, evidently unsatisfied by John's answer, and the subsequent (and very poor) attempt at changing the subject. ]
We both know that coming to a party with him hardly means anything.
[ John could be easily pretending that things are fine. It's what he does most of the time, he's got practice. What he says doesn't always express what he thinks, what he feels, what really is on his mind. Jim just wants to be sure. ]
That beer's looking flatter than a desert. [ Quickly grabbing a couple of fresh ones, then nodding for John to follow him outside. There are a few seats on the backyard, and no one else is there. It should afford them some privacy. ] Come on.
no subject
He knows what Jim's doing. Half of him wants to take the beer and find a person, cat or something else to pretend to be distracted by. The other half of him wants to... he doesn't know what he wants, but he trusts Jim.
And he doesn't want him to leave. Not without him.]
Yeah, okay. Just remember what happened last time I drank too much around you at a party.
[It's a bad joke, and a warning, but he has to say something as they cross the room, anything to at least act like he's not on his way to an emotional execution.]
no subject
And he doesn't want him bottling it all in. That's never the solution.
Jim breathes out a soft chuckle, a hand resting on John's back as though guiding him to one of the seats just outside. ]
It's just one beer, you lightweight. Besidesβ [ Jim shrugs. ] You promised that wouldn't happen again, and I believe you.