Fervid as a flame, does it have a name?

[relaxfriend]

Day: 29
Characters: Jack Kelly (cowboy_newsie ); Gary Smith (relaxfriend )
Summary: Jack's a busy boy. Gary pays a visit to his bedside.
DAY/NIGHT & Time: Late night
Status: Closed/Incomplete

Comments

[cowboy_newsie]

Jack laid on his bed, one arm underneath his head, studying the list he and Edge had made. It was stupid to be this pleased with himself over learning a few terms of Spanish, but there you were, he still was, even hours after they'd parted. He murmured the terms under his breath once again, trying to make sure he'd remember the pronunciation

[relaxfriend]

This was delightful, wasn't it?

"Yeah, about that." Gary clapped his hands together and exhaled deeply. "We've really got to talk, Fran. Seriously, we've got things to deal with, to handle, to...discuss."

Gary took a few steps back from Jack, so that he could lean his back against the wall. He crossed his arms over his chest with a small smile. "See, because inspite of all this animosity between us, I think we can work something out. Work together. After all, I work with Paul, right? And everyone knows that his IQ is somewhere between steel wool and a salmander." Gary looked Jack up and down, taking in the other boy's body language. Waiting to see how tense Jack's arms got. How red his face would get.

"So," Gary spoke animatedly, cheerfully, "Let's chat for a minute, cowboy. About what on earth is going to happen to your little bedside reading."

[cowboy_newsie]

"Jack," he snapped, watching Gary warily as he stepped back. "Ain't nobody thinks it's clever when ya call me Francis." God, he hated that name-- not only because it had been more or less ten years since he'd been referred to as such, but because it brought back memories he'd rather not recall.

As for his book . . . truthfully, between arriving here and all the chaos and insanity that had been the past month, Jack hadn't thought about his book or the fact that it was gone. He supposed he realized, on some small level, but it hadn't been his main concern-- not with therapies and torture every day. And then being promoted to staff-- looking into his personal affects wasn't ever his first thought, between the therapies and simply dealing with the other staff members.

"Ya do somethin' t'it?" he asked, dreading the answer. He would have no trouble believing Gary would burn his book simply because he was bored or had a spare match around.

[relaxfriend]

"Oh, you're so adorable," Gary faux-gushed. He tilted his head to the side. "I understand it's difficult for you, differentiating between cleverness and, well, simple conversation." Gary held his hands up as if to stop Jack from saying anything further. "But it's something that can be worked on. Even the dumbest of the dumb can learn to pick up vocal cues and--"

Gary snorted and threw up his hands. "What the fuck am I saying? You, learning something? Right, I shouldn't be delusional-- things like that would get me with the patients, won't it?"Gary grinned before crouching down so that he was sitting against the wall.

"And I haven't done anything to your little bedside reading. Yet. But seriously, just passing it to you? Boring. Uninteresting. Lame."

[cowboy_newsie]

He rolled his eyes during Gary's little stupidity speech, staring down at him a moment before sitting down as well. "Gary, I wouldn' talk abou' havin' trouble learnin' thin's. After all, yer havin' difficulty rememberin' no' t'call me tha'."

Settling so he could get up quickly if need be, Jack let out a breath of air. "So whaddya wan', if ya go' such a hard time jus' givin' it back." He ignored the warning in the pit of his stomach. He would not lose his book if he could help it-- especially not to the likes of Gary. Not only was it his favorite book, but Jack'd read and reread the damn thing since he was ten or so-- and it was one of the few reminders of home he had.