"Wandered Where The Ice Was Too Thin", Britannia High, Jez/BB
Title: Wandered Where The Ice Was Too Thin
Fandom: Britannia High
Pairing: Jez/BB
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1425
Genre: Pre-slash
Copyright: Title is from Missing Person.
Summary: “Does your flat have heating?”
Author’s Notes: Yay, unashamedly fluffy snow!fic. Ok, so I’m unsurprised about the whole BH-being-axed thing, but still: *weeps* On the plus side, Jez&BB and their love are completely and totally canon now, because no one can prove they didn’t get together. Oh boys. I’m so inappropriately emotionally invested in your non-existent relationship. Chronologically set somewhere before the finale, but also set on Monday. If that makes sense.
He don’t show much these days
It gets so fucking cold.
- Tori Amos
February 2nd 2009.
London.
The first thing Jez says when BB blearily pulls open the door is:
“Does your flat have heating?”
BB looks incredulously at his friend; Jez’s cheeks are flushed red from the window and he’s shivering, arms hugging himself. He’s wearing a black knitted hat pulled down low on his forehead, now wet and covered in ice. Thick white clumps of snow cling to his trainers and the bottom of his jeans.
“Well, yeah,” BB says, stepping back to let Jez in.
“Do you have hot water?” Jez adds, standing and stamping the worst of the snow off his feet.
“What’s going on, Jez?” BB frowns, when Jez doesn’t show any signs of actually moving, arms still wrapped tightly around himself. He steps forward, unfolding Jez’s arms for him. “Jesus, you’re freezing! Did you walk all the way here?”
“It was only half an hour,” Jez replies; his teeth are chattering. “And no buses were running. Nothing’s running.”
“You are insane,” BB tells him, tugging Jez by the wrist until he’s got him stood in front of one of his radiators. “Stand here. Don’t move.”
“I can’t feel my toes, I’m actually not sure I can move,” Jez calls after him, as BB goes into his bedroom, gets his duvet off the bed, and brings it back. Jez has his hands spread open just above over the radiator, skin almost blue with cold.
“Seriously, man, you’re mad,” BB murmurs, dropping the duvet into a heap beside Jez and pulling the soaking wet hat off his friend’s head. Jez’s hair is cold under his fingers, wispy and sticking up at weird angles from being crammed underneath the hat, but Jez is looking so pathetic BB can’t even bring himself to make fun of him.
“Well,” Jez replies, “You’re closer than the others, and apparently Danny and Claudine have decided to spend today hiding from the snow in her bedroom, and Lola is having a tantrum because none of her twenty pairs of super-high wedges are suitable for going outside…”
“Right,” BB murmurs, and then realises what’s going on. Does your flat have heating? “Oh bloody hell, Jez, you don’t have heating?!”
Jez shrugs minutely. “It’s a shitty flat,” he points out, “I’m lucky it has a roof.”
He pulls off his coat and toes off his shoes; BB can see his socks are soaked through. He sighs, picking up his duvet and wrapping it around Jez’s shoulders; Jez’s fingers brush his and they’re icy.
“It’s been freezing for the last month,” BB tells him, “How’ve you been coping?”
Jez shifts, pulling the blanket tighter around him and sinking down to sit on the floor by the radiator, sheer relief on his face.
“Why d’you think I’ve been spending so much time at school or at your place?” he says, raising his eyebrows.
There is an answer BB could give to that, but it comes across as kind of sad in his head so he’s pretty sure it’ll sound worse out loud.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asks, sitting down beside Jez.
“I thought everyone had had enough of my I’ve-been-disowned-and-have-no-money problems,” Jez shrugs. More natural colour is beginning to return to his cheeks, and BB can see how completely and utterly exhausted he looks.
“That is complete and utter bullshit,” he snaps. “Jez, if you have no heating in your flat it’s ok to ask for help.” He frowns, something else Jez said coming back to him. “And if you have no hot water then-”
“I’ve been showering at school,” Jez says. He yawns miserably. “My taps have icicles on them.”
“For fuck’s sake, Jez,” BB groans, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Jez looks uncomfortable, burrowing into the duvet a little more.
“Can I use your shower?” he asks eventually.
“‘Course you can, mate,” BB tells him. “There’s towels and stuff in there.”
Jez unfolds himself from the blanket with a bright smile. BB carefully doesn’t look in the direction of his bathroom and instead goes to put his kettle on, momentarily hating Jez because he’s still bloody hiding things. Maybe it’s not hey, I’m a millionaire and live in a gigantic supermansion, but I’m freezing myself half to death in my crap flat is just as important, if not more so, and BB is going to explain this to Jez at some point.
Through the wall, he can hear Jez singing in the shower, and his lips curl almost involuntarily into a smile that he can’t quite shift. He probably looks like a complete idiot, but there’s no one around to call him on it - which makes a nice change, Lauren seems to spend most of her time around BB shooting him you are so bloody obvious looks - and he busies himself making tea, watching snow whip past the window in a really nasty-looking blizzard.
When Jez comes out, hair damp, BB passes him a warm mug of sweet tea.
“I really love you,” Jez sighs, heading for the sofa.
BB is very dignified and doesn’t say anything stupid like I love you too because then Jez would probably flee the flat and it’s very important to keep him here and warm. Instead, BB takes his own mug and joins Jez on the sofa, pulling up the duvet to cover them both.
“Sorry about this,” Jez says, as BB flicks on the TV so they can watch the snow chaos on the news.
“Don’t be stupid, man,” BB replies. He sighs. “You know, your dad is really-”
“I don’t think he intentionally went ‘hey, I’ll disown my son and leave him to fend for himself in the worst snowfall for nearly twenty years’,” Jez replies. He cracks a smirk. “Though I am seriously considering actually becoming an accountant. It can’t be that bad, right?”
BB gives him an incredulous look, and Jez nods. “Yeah,” he sighs, “You’re probably right.”
They watch crap daytime TV and Jez gets steadily quieter, eyes drooping.
“Sorry,” he yawns, “I couldn’t sleep last night, it was really cold.”
Jez is quite clearly a danger to himself and BB is going have to intervene to keep his friend from killing himself from sheer bloody stupidity.
“Jez…” he begins.
“I know.” Jez rubs a hand across his face, looking miserable. “It’s just so stupid,” he moans, “I mean, I’m living in the world’s smallest flat and I basically have a futon and a box to put clothes in and that’s it, and I don’t know how my life got here because, you know, is my dad trying to prove a point or am I and…” He makes a face. “It’s just… crap.”
“Come here, man,” BB sighs, pulling Jez into a hug. Jez buries his face in BB’s shoulder and yawns again, and BB shifts them both, trying not to alarm Jez, until he’s leaning against the sofa arm with Jez curled against his chest.
He knows he’s probably torturing himself, but on the other hand it’s nice and it’s cosy and Jez isn’t pulling away shrieking that he’s compromising their friendship so he’ll worry about it later.
“Sorry,” Jez mumbles drowsily.
“Stop apologising,” BB replies, sliding an arm around Jez’s waist. He sighs, cheek pressed to Jez’s hair. “You do realise you’re going to have to move in now, don’t you?”
“Just a few days,” Jez murmurs, and there really isn’t room for the two of them on the sofa; their legs are tangled and half the circulation in BB’s body is going to get cut off and he really doesn’t care, “Until the snow melts.”
“Fuck that,” BB tells him, “We’re going to get you a futon or whatever, it’s got to be better than that shithole you live in at the moment.”
“All right,” Jez responds, voice barely above a whisper, palm pressed flat against BB’s chest and BB reflects that Jez really is amusingly suggestible when half-asleep, though they’re almost definitely going to need to have this conversation again when Jez is awake and he will probably take more persuading then.
A minute later, Jez’s breathing evens out; every time he exhales it spreads a patch of warm through the shoulder of BB’s t-shirt. Later, this might get awkward, and BB can already imagine the pins and needles he’s going to have to contend with, but right now all that matters is that Jez is not trudging through eight inches of snow and he is not freezing in his flat, and BB watches TV with his hand protectively curved over Jez’s hip, a satisfied smile on his mouth.
Fandom: Britannia High
Pairing: Jez/BB
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1425
Genre: Pre-slash
Copyright: Title is from Missing Person.
Summary: “Does your flat have heating?”
Author’s Notes: Yay, unashamedly fluffy snow!fic. Ok, so I’m unsurprised about the whole BH-being-axed thing, but still: *weeps* On the plus side, Jez&BB and their love are completely and totally canon now, because no one can prove they didn’t get together. Oh boys. I’m so inappropriately emotionally invested in your non-existent relationship. Chronologically set somewhere before the finale, but also set on Monday. If that makes sense.
He don’t show much these days
It gets so fucking cold.
- Tori Amos
February 2nd 2009.
London.
The first thing Jez says when BB blearily pulls open the door is:
“Does your flat have heating?”
BB looks incredulously at his friend; Jez’s cheeks are flushed red from the window and he’s shivering, arms hugging himself. He’s wearing a black knitted hat pulled down low on his forehead, now wet and covered in ice. Thick white clumps of snow cling to his trainers and the bottom of his jeans.
“Well, yeah,” BB says, stepping back to let Jez in.
“Do you have hot water?” Jez adds, standing and stamping the worst of the snow off his feet.
“What’s going on, Jez?” BB frowns, when Jez doesn’t show any signs of actually moving, arms still wrapped tightly around himself. He steps forward, unfolding Jez’s arms for him. “Jesus, you’re freezing! Did you walk all the way here?”
“It was only half an hour,” Jez replies; his teeth are chattering. “And no buses were running. Nothing’s running.”
“You are insane,” BB tells him, tugging Jez by the wrist until he’s got him stood in front of one of his radiators. “Stand here. Don’t move.”
“I can’t feel my toes, I’m actually not sure I can move,” Jez calls after him, as BB goes into his bedroom, gets his duvet off the bed, and brings it back. Jez has his hands spread open just above over the radiator, skin almost blue with cold.
“Seriously, man, you’re mad,” BB murmurs, dropping the duvet into a heap beside Jez and pulling the soaking wet hat off his friend’s head. Jez’s hair is cold under his fingers, wispy and sticking up at weird angles from being crammed underneath the hat, but Jez is looking so pathetic BB can’t even bring himself to make fun of him.
“Well,” Jez replies, “You’re closer than the others, and apparently Danny and Claudine have decided to spend today hiding from the snow in her bedroom, and Lola is having a tantrum because none of her twenty pairs of super-high wedges are suitable for going outside…”
“Right,” BB murmurs, and then realises what’s going on. Does your flat have heating? “Oh bloody hell, Jez, you don’t have heating?!”
Jez shrugs minutely. “It’s a shitty flat,” he points out, “I’m lucky it has a roof.”
He pulls off his coat and toes off his shoes; BB can see his socks are soaked through. He sighs, picking up his duvet and wrapping it around Jez’s shoulders; Jez’s fingers brush his and they’re icy.
“It’s been freezing for the last month,” BB tells him, “How’ve you been coping?”
Jez shifts, pulling the blanket tighter around him and sinking down to sit on the floor by the radiator, sheer relief on his face.
“Why d’you think I’ve been spending so much time at school or at your place?” he says, raising his eyebrows.
There is an answer BB could give to that, but it comes across as kind of sad in his head so he’s pretty sure it’ll sound worse out loud.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asks, sitting down beside Jez.
“I thought everyone had had enough of my I’ve-been-disowned-and-have-no-money problems,” Jez shrugs. More natural colour is beginning to return to his cheeks, and BB can see how completely and utterly exhausted he looks.
“That is complete and utter bullshit,” he snaps. “Jez, if you have no heating in your flat it’s ok to ask for help.” He frowns, something else Jez said coming back to him. “And if you have no hot water then-”
“I’ve been showering at school,” Jez says. He yawns miserably. “My taps have icicles on them.”
“For fuck’s sake, Jez,” BB groans, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Jez looks uncomfortable, burrowing into the duvet a little more.
“Can I use your shower?” he asks eventually.
“‘Course you can, mate,” BB tells him. “There’s towels and stuff in there.”
Jez unfolds himself from the blanket with a bright smile. BB carefully doesn’t look in the direction of his bathroom and instead goes to put his kettle on, momentarily hating Jez because he’s still bloody hiding things. Maybe it’s not hey, I’m a millionaire and live in a gigantic supermansion, but I’m freezing myself half to death in my crap flat is just as important, if not more so, and BB is going to explain this to Jez at some point.
Through the wall, he can hear Jez singing in the shower, and his lips curl almost involuntarily into a smile that he can’t quite shift. He probably looks like a complete idiot, but there’s no one around to call him on it - which makes a nice change, Lauren seems to spend most of her time around BB shooting him you are so bloody obvious looks - and he busies himself making tea, watching snow whip past the window in a really nasty-looking blizzard.
When Jez comes out, hair damp, BB passes him a warm mug of sweet tea.
“I really love you,” Jez sighs, heading for the sofa.
BB is very dignified and doesn’t say anything stupid like I love you too because then Jez would probably flee the flat and it’s very important to keep him here and warm. Instead, BB takes his own mug and joins Jez on the sofa, pulling up the duvet to cover them both.
“Sorry about this,” Jez says, as BB flicks on the TV so they can watch the snow chaos on the news.
“Don’t be stupid, man,” BB replies. He sighs. “You know, your dad is really-”
“I don’t think he intentionally went ‘hey, I’ll disown my son and leave him to fend for himself in the worst snowfall for nearly twenty years’,” Jez replies. He cracks a smirk. “Though I am seriously considering actually becoming an accountant. It can’t be that bad, right?”
BB gives him an incredulous look, and Jez nods. “Yeah,” he sighs, “You’re probably right.”
They watch crap daytime TV and Jez gets steadily quieter, eyes drooping.
“Sorry,” he yawns, “I couldn’t sleep last night, it was really cold.”
Jez is quite clearly a danger to himself and BB is going have to intervene to keep his friend from killing himself from sheer bloody stupidity.
“Jez…” he begins.
“I know.” Jez rubs a hand across his face, looking miserable. “It’s just so stupid,” he moans, “I mean, I’m living in the world’s smallest flat and I basically have a futon and a box to put clothes in and that’s it, and I don’t know how my life got here because, you know, is my dad trying to prove a point or am I and…” He makes a face. “It’s just… crap.”
“Come here, man,” BB sighs, pulling Jez into a hug. Jez buries his face in BB’s shoulder and yawns again, and BB shifts them both, trying not to alarm Jez, until he’s leaning against the sofa arm with Jez curled against his chest.
He knows he’s probably torturing himself, but on the other hand it’s nice and it’s cosy and Jez isn’t pulling away shrieking that he’s compromising their friendship so he’ll worry about it later.
“Sorry,” Jez mumbles drowsily.
“Stop apologising,” BB replies, sliding an arm around Jez’s waist. He sighs, cheek pressed to Jez’s hair. “You do realise you’re going to have to move in now, don’t you?”
“Just a few days,” Jez murmurs, and there really isn’t room for the two of them on the sofa; their legs are tangled and half the circulation in BB’s body is going to get cut off and he really doesn’t care, “Until the snow melts.”
“Fuck that,” BB tells him, “We’re going to get you a futon or whatever, it’s got to be better than that shithole you live in at the moment.”
“All right,” Jez responds, voice barely above a whisper, palm pressed flat against BB’s chest and BB reflects that Jez really is amusingly suggestible when half-asleep, though they’re almost definitely going to need to have this conversation again when Jez is awake and he will probably take more persuading then.
A minute later, Jez’s breathing evens out; every time he exhales it spreads a patch of warm through the shoulder of BB’s t-shirt. Later, this might get awkward, and BB can already imagine the pins and needles he’s going to have to contend with, but right now all that matters is that Jez is not trudging through eight inches of snow and he is not freezing in his flat, and BB watches TV with his hand protectively curved over Jez’s hip, a satisfied smile on his mouth.