The Apartment Above The Boards, Jono's Room, Saturday Morning

[onlysmokesnics]

Hayley had woken up in strange places before. The bed, the bedroom she didn't recognize even in the haze of time between opening one's eyes and being truly awake

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[apocalipped]

It was sometime in the early afternoon by the time Jono had made his way back to the Boards, wearing the first items of clothing that he pulled from Hayley's dresser that hadn't made him look like some sort of circus performer, and the leather jacket that he'd found on the floor.

He didn't have a key, but Jono was an individual of a few questionable talents, and he knew his way around the building well enough to be able to pick the back door, making his way up the stairs to the apartment. So long as Troy didn't catch him and freak out, he was more or less in the clear, here.

He stopped at the door at the top of the stairs for a moment, listening. And then, when it didn't sound as though the place was being ripped apart or on fire, he let himself in.

"Hayley, luv? Are you here?"

That sounded so weird to his ears, mixing her voice with his accent that way.

[onlysmokesnics]

Hayley had never really heard a recording of her voice, but there was a similar quality to what she thought her voice normally sounded like. The accent, however, was... well, a little bit weird, a little bit unf. Though everything felt a bit weird; as she'd become more and more aware, she could feel this feeling of something inside of her, something that even she felt was a little scary. But she was doing her best to ignore it.

For her part, she was in Jono's room, wearing naught but a towel. A towel tied not at waist level, but at chest. The door to Jono's room was wide open, of course.

"I'm... well, I guess I'm me," she replied, her voice lower and way more masculine than normal.

[apocalipped]

"You, and making me sound like a Yank," Jono sighed, making his way to his room and pausing in the doorway. He'd heard his own voice often enough, mostly over the past year, reviewing recordings of mission reports under Weapon X. It sounded wrong, that way. Which, yes, was one of the first things he'd noticed. The second was... well...

... Really, it was almost good to know that he wasn't the only one who had considered wearing towels that way after a shower. It was slightly more awkward knowing that she'd had a shower at all.

"How're you holding up?"

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Hayley just sort of stared for a moment, really confused by seeing her own body from the outside.

"I guess I'm holding up okay," Hayley said. "I've yet to find a mirror in your place, though, you got a problem with them?"

"And I really need to put some clothes on, but I guess..." She let the towel drop, it wasn't like Jono hadn't seen himself naked before. "Where do you keep it all, because I'm not wearing sweatpants."

[apocalipped]

To his credit, Jono actually managed to refrain from squawking aloud at the sudden eyeful of... himself.

Barely.

"Right, that's... trousers would be... they're just over..." God, he was blushing. He just had to be blushing. "This way. In boxes. I keep meaning to unpack it all, but then I just don't see the point. Are khakis good enough for you? I really only wear the sweats to bed."

He had yet to replace most of his leather. It was expensive, and he didn't want to shop at any place with 'pixie' in the name. He had standards.

"And mirrors and I... don't exactly get along," he continued, opening up a box and rummaging through it, throwing a pair of grey cotton boxers over his shoulder at her before surfacing with a pair of beige trousers that practically dwarfed him at the moment. "The last one had a bit of a bad turn, and I just haven't gotten around to replacing it yet."

[onlysmokesnics]

Hayley couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at everything Jono kept saying, partially because it was her saying it, but also the sentiment.

"What, you planning on taking off again?" she asked, instead of the question she wanted to ask about the mirrors. She'd save that for later. She started dressing, her eyes watching Jono instead of the body she occupied. "What happened to pit solidarity?"

[apocalipped]

"Nothing," Jono sighed, keeping his back turned for a moment more before turning around with a shirt in hand to go with the rest of the clothing he'd pulled out for her. "I'm still well and firmly down at rock bottom, and wouldn't have anywhere to go even if I did want to leave, trust me."

This was supposed to be reassuring, Hayley.

"But unpacking means acknowledging that I've settled in, and I haven't quite managed that, either."

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"Well, good," Hayley said, pulling on the shirt that Jono had offered. "Cause after last night, I really need all the friends that ain't kids I can get. Wouldn't want to lose one."

She rubbed her face with a hand, and chuckled. "Especially since we're getting to know so much about each other."

[apocalipped]

"This does promise to be a rather enlightening experience, doesn't it?"

Jono couldn't help but think about the newspaper clippings he'd read that morning. But at least he managed to bite back a frown.

"... Dare I ask what happened last night?"

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"Nothin'," Hayley said, shaking her head. She sighed. "Just a bunch of school girl kids playin', I shouldn't have been there. Karla thinks I can just be part of the crowd still, I guess. I really wish I could."

She let out another huff of breath.

"You got anything to eat in this place?"

[apocalipped]

"It's... difficult to come back, after being away," Jono offered, softly, as he nodded back toward his bedroom door. "I don't think Karla entirely understands that yet. But I think she really just wants you to be happy."

He got up and started heading toward the kitchen.

"There should be some leftovers, I think. How does cold pizza sound?"

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"...really?" Hayley said, giving Jono a bit of a look. She was also smirking. "Not a single egg, no bacon, nothing normal people eat for breakfast?"

She was teasing, it helped set her at ease.

[apocalipped]

"I'm not a normal person," Jono replied with a sort of mock indignity. "I'm a bachelor."

Duh, Hayley. Duh.

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"This is ridiculous," Hayley said, shaking her head. "Clothes in boxes, only old pizza in the fridge, do you ever cook anything?"

She sighed. "Fine, cold pizza. But only because I'm not going out until I get some more answers about things. Cause oh boy, do I got questions."

[apocalipped]

"I cook occasionally," and this time, Jono's reply was a tiny bit on the indignant side. "I also spent a decade not eating, and not eating generally means not cooking, either."

Or it just meant he was being lazy. One of those.

"And if your questions have anything to do with what the bloody hell is going on here, I hate to say it, but I don't exactly have answers. Fandom?"

[onlysmokesnics]

"Oh, no, that I understand," Hayley said, starting the walk out of the bedroom and towards whatever was going to pass for a kitchen. "What I don't understand is why I feel like I've got... I don't even know what, but there's just this feeling in my gut that doesn't feel so good."