afabulouskilljoy | (no subject)

Entry tags:

au,
jack

(no subject)

It's late.

Late enough that Gerard wonders if this is the best idea. Maybe he should've called a cab? He doesn't know. He knows the bus will come, and his portfolio is big - it's easier to take it on the bus at this point. He doesn't want it bent or folded or otherwise threatened in the close confines of the back seat of a cab.

He sighs and rubs his hair - fluffy and black - and looks around again. Some fog is rolling in and he feels like he could be in a video game.

"Pretty sure this is how people get murdered," he mumbles.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yeah," says Jack, nodding. He rubs his fingers through his dark hair, short on the side of his head. "My sister. Can we..." He frowns. "Can we not talk about that just yet?"

Gee holds his hands up. "Don't need to tell me shit, I'm a total stranger," he says. He doesn't want Jack to feel like he needs to divulge a life story. That would be fucked up.

"Sometimes it's good to talk things through with a total stranger," says Jack, rolling his shoulders under his leather jacket in a lazy shrug. "No baggage, nothing to lose."

"Well, if you do need that." He cuts off with a gesture to himself. "For now I am still almost that total stranger that is completely willing to be a throw-away therapist for the low low price of a cup of tea."

"Maybe I need that," says Jack, rolling his shoulder again, like he's trying to work out a kink. "But not yet. Tell me more about you." He fixes Gerard with a look through double eyelashes. "I'm interested."

He snorts a laugh. "Oh are you? What kind of interested?" He lifts his eyebrows, almost a challenge. Gerard lifts a hand, pushing his dark hair back. He's going to change it soon. Something drastic.

"Interested enough to buy you tea," says Jack, flashing an expensive, straight edged smile. "I guess we can go from there."

"Uh huh." Gerard eyes him a little, because now that he's looking, Jack looks like money. "So what kind of tea are you exposing me to?"

"You make it sound nefarious," says Jack, rolling his eyes a little, smiling. He nudges Gerard's shoulder with his. "Good tea. Quality tea."

"I doubt it's abilities to properly caffeinate a person, that's all," he insists.

"I wouldn't lead you astray, man," says Jack, grinning. He hauls himself up out of his seat, grabbing his backpack and Gerard's portfolio folder. "C'mon. This is our stop."

He gets up when Jack does and follows him off the bus - he kind of has to now. The guy has his portfolio. Gerard looks around; the Castro is still lively at this hour and it's kinda nice. He comes down here sometimes, always wondering if looks out of place.

Jack waits for Gerard to fall into step with him and then he heads down the street.

"You do this often?" he asks, teasing. "Tea with strangers?"

"I can safely say I don't. Unless you count sitting among strangers while drinking coffee." But he tends not to socialize, he has other stuff to keep himself occupied.

"Good," says Jack, touching Gerard's elbow as he makes an abrupt left through a door under a gold leaf sign. "I like being a first."

He lifts his eyebrows at that comment. "Oh really?" he answers, following him through the door. "And what kind of firsts have you been so far?"

"Oh, you don't know me nearly well enough for that, man," says Jack. Inside, a waitress throws her arms around his neck and kisses him hello. "Can we take the booth?" he asks, eyebrows raised. "C'mon, Skylar. There's no-one here."

He rolls his eyes. "What's good about being anonymous if you can't tell me stories?" he insists. He lifts an eyebrow when Jack is so enthusiastically greeted and snorts a bit. Sounds a little... used to getting his way. Gerard stays quiet, letting him figure out where they're going to sit.

"It's not anonymous if you know my name, man," says Jack, eyebrow raised as he slides into a booth. There's a low table, cushions arranged against the wall. Jack settles himself, stretching out his long legs under the table and waiting for Gerard to sit. He leans, reaching for a menu. "You could google me."

"You could've made it up," he insists. "And until I google you - which I probably won't do - you're still a stranger." He shrugs his shoulder as he settles down in a seat.

"I mean, I could have," says Jack, grinning as he watches Gerard settle. "But I'll show you my driver's license if you want to see it."

"And give me your address?" He lifts his eyebrows. "Not safe, Jack Vincent. I could be a creeper. I could be anybody."

"You could be, yeah. But I've got a feeling that you're not." It's pretty clear that Gerard doesn't recognise his name just from hearing it and Jack gets a weird sense of relief from that. "Are you hungry?"

"Are your feelings always right?" Maybe now he's actually being a little creeper, but he thinks he has a point. Maybe he's a pscyhopathic mastermind. He's not, but Jack doesn't know that, right?

He shrugs. "Yeah, I could eat. Think the last thing I had was a ramen cup."

"I'm a pretty good judge of people." He lifts an eyebrow, glancing at Gerard over the top of the menu. "You ordering for yourself or do you trust me to do it for you?"