The X-Project

Bestfriends talk about relationships and whats been on Jay's mind more than once.

Bending down, his gloved hands wrapped around three two by fours and lifting them to level with his body. Wings spread out wide to catch his balance, falling back a step from the heap, wary from the rays of the beating sun. It was roughly closing in on 2pm and they were not even remotely close to being finished. He paused, turning his head, looking behind him to check that no one was there before taking off for flight. Wings beating down hard, he lifted himself into the air and within seconds, landed down on the roof, setting the wood down on the incline. "Good heavens, Ah could go fer some water right now."

Terry broke off the tune she was whistling and looked up from her own task nailing down wood that he'd already brought up, shirt plastered to her back with sweat. "Mine's over there. I told you that you should have brought some with you." Her nod indicated a plain plastic bottle, half empty. "Sure I'd prefer one of those Red Bulls or such that Forge is always on about."

Pushing himself up to stand, he took a step back, wiping the sweat away from his brow. "Is it gettin' hotter or just me?" he asked, wishing for any type of breeze to come. Instead of folding his wings in, Jay kept them slightly open, away from his bare; probably sun burnt back and as an after thought, flapped them a few times as Terry looked increasingly hot as the minutes went by. "Ah'm just hot. Damn heat sucks tha energy right out," he complained, wandering over to her water bottle and plucking it off the floor to take a drink. Only he finished off the entire bottle. "Oops. Ya didn' want any, did ya?"

Terry rolled her eyes and waved off the non-apology. "Boys. Yeh can't live with em and there aren't enough feathers to stuff a comforter. No, I'll get more at the next break. You're worked up a bit. What's eating you?" It really was unfortunately sunny today. Not all that warm, really, unless you were working.

Fidgeting with the empty bottle, he turned around and folded his wings back, eyes immediately finding Kevin's beautiful body just a few houses down. When he thought Kevin was turned around, looking at him, Jay waved. Kevin didn't wave back but looked like he was shielding his eyes and then turned his attention to a girl talking to him. Jay dropped his hand. He frowned, recognising the boyish smile his boyfriend often gave him when they were flirting and Jay pitched the bottle into the house. He took off again into flight, his mood a little dampened by what he saw and fetched three more lengths of wood before returning to the roof top with Terry. He didn't bother answering her question. She was smart.

"So what's he done then?" Terry frowned and tuned into Kevin's voice, faint even for her with all the construction going on. Eavesdropping was second nature to her. She didn't even consider it an invasion of privacy any more though she rarely passed on what she heard outside of a few select people. Right now, she just wanted to hear what they each had to say for themselves.

He dropped the wood. "Nothin' he hasn' done before." Jay walked across the roof, fetching a towel and dragging it across his chest. "Ya mind doin' ma shoulder blades, please?" he asked. It itched like hell with the sweat and the brush of his feathers did nothing to help that. "An' Kev's been ignorin' me. Ah mean, he's busy so..." he shrugged, feeling sulky, even if Terry wasn't sympathetic. "He didn' say a word about me gettin' ma license. Not a damn word 'bout it."

She walked over to him, taking the towel from him and rubbing it between his wings, scratching the itch at the same time as mopping up the sweat. "Didn't yeh say that he wasn't happy about it to begin with? Perhaps it's a good thing that he's not saying anything about it. It's better than him getting himself worked up over something that can't be changed."

"Yeah, we got inta a big fight 'bout it. An' he hasn' said a word 'bout it since. Maybe yer right, but ohh--" Jay paused, rolling his shoulder back into her hands. "--But he shouldn' be not talkin' 'bout it. Don' they usually say tha' ya fight in a good an' healthy relationship? Ah reckon ya got nuttin' if ya don' fight 'o arn' 'round ta fight."

"Sure Bobby and I fight all the time. But that doesn't mean that you pick a fight just for the sake of having one." She scratched the base of a wing. "Have you tried to just talk to him about it, then? Or are you only being selfish."

"Ah ain' pickin' 'em!" He looked at her over his shoulder. "Ah'm jus' sayin'... ohh.. yer gonna make me cum if ya keep doin' tha'. New record fer ya if ya do." He smirked.

Terry stopped and gave him a hard look, eyebrows raised and mouth quirked then very deliberately lifted her hand and thwapped him upside the head. "You're a bold one, to talk so to a married woman," she scolded affectionately. "And you just sidestepped my question."

"Ow! Ah was just pointin' out tha' yer good wit' yer hands! No more compliments fer you," he pouted, rolling his shoulder away as his indignant response. "Yer married, Ah'm gay an' we're best friends. Now we jus' gotta get drunk, get it up long enough fer ya ta get pregnant an' we got ourselves a typical Hollywood movie." He moved over to the two by fours, kneeling down to measure out a cut that he needed. "Which question was that?"

"Thanks no, I'm fair done with drunken sex and cheating." Because she wasn't made of stone, she tilted her head to the side and smirked a little. "I asked if you've actually talked to him. In a rational and adult sort of manner, not like you're two broody, emo, whimpering brats."

He hadn't meant the way that sounded and squirmed on the inside, keeping his back to her. "No, not really. Ah feel like a woman if Ah go up ta 'im an' ask if we can talk. No offense. He don' wanna talk. He's tha brooding sort. Sits in tha' shop all day, doin' whatever it is he's doin'. Ah ain' gonna bug 'im 'bout it." Even as he said that, he wondered how long they could go on ignoring the little details that bugged them. Jay turned in his crouching position, leaning one arm on the wood and shaded his eyes in the sun. "There's somethin' wrong wit' doin' it this way, ain' it?"

Terry sat down, straddling one of the exposed beams, looking thoughtful. "If you're hoping for this to go anywhere, then aye, I'd say you're in trouble. If all that you're looking for is someone right now? Then I wouldn't imagine that it matter so much how honest you are with each other. You'll drift apart before it falls apart."

"Whaddya mean if Ah'm hopin' fer this ta go anywhere? An' if we don' address it, we're still in trouble. Ah don' know. Maybe Ah'm hopin' his power will take a trip an' he'll be normal? Ya make it sound like we ain' gonna work out regardless."

He was too far away for her to thwap him upside the head again so she aimed the sonic equivalent at him, a burst of solid sound that smacked him just behind the ear. "I didn't say that and you know it. I'm the last one to tell anybody that their relationship won't make it. I just said that if you want this to be long term, you've got to man up and approach it like it means something to you. More than just him being here and convenient. There's nothing wrong with that sort, sure I never actually planned to end up married to Bobby, but you've got to do it anyway."

Jay winced, his hands rushing up to his ears and he wobbled on the spot. "Ter!" he barked. Rubbing his temples, he ran his fingers down over his ears and his knee touched down on the floor, maintaining his balance. "Ah am manning it up 'ere. Ah'm talkin' ta you ain' Ah?" He paused, replacing his hand down on the floor. "Kev ain' no Bobby. He's gotta heart o' gold an' a black cloud darker than night hangin' over his head. Ah don' know where ta start without soundin' like a wuss."

"I don't think that talking to your best girl friend counts as manning up, love, sorry to say." Terry sighed and picked up her hammer again to resume her work. "What are you hoping will happen, Jay? That one day you'll wake up and everything will magically be all right? It doesn't work that way and you know it."

Jay shrugged, picking up the saw and lining it up to the two by four. "Happily ever after woulda worked. Worked fer you didn't it?" He threw her a coy smile before staring up the saw, killing any further conversation.