cecilia is stretched out in front of his little furnace, lazy like an overgrown cat in the sun. way, way overgrown. fern doesn't mind this, of course. his feet are propped on her smooth back like a scaly foot rest as he too soaks up the heat cast off the embers within. anything to chase out the chill that's crept into the fall air.[break][break]

he doesn't exactly want to admit that the upcoming plans for the meteor's impact filling him with a sense of uneasy foreboding. he didn't like to admit there was anything wrong at all. and he certainly didn't want to admit that a part of him felt scared. Fern Delaney didn't get scared.[break][break]

but he didn't have the fortune of high rank to busy his mind with preparation tasks. in fact, he didn't have much to do at all apart from personally making sure his ducks were in a row. so he drowning out the creep of his apprehension with other things. for once, his home was neat. but he was running out of programs to binge to fill up his background with constant noise.[break][break]

a knock at his door was the last thing he expected. turning down the television volume, he stood and made his way over. jayden cross , holding onto his recovering wrist was even less expected. but there was something about the sight of him that flooded fern with relief. and maybe a pleased sort of emotion too - because he'd chosen to come here.[break][break]

"you want honey, huh?" he asked, eyes narrowing playfully as his head tilted. "better than the grocery store, i gather. nothing at all to do with the massive space rock hurtling toward us?" still, he steps aside allowing jayden access to the warmth inside, shooing off the evening cold.


[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | ....what kinda honey u lookin for, jay >:3[break]

Naturally he gives them the logical response. Proximity and ease of visit, and so on. They don’t call out the fact that they only partially buy that answer, content to play along instead.[break][break]

“Right, right. That does make so much more sense, silly of me to not think of that.” A quiet chuckle follows.[break][break]

As Jayden steps in and Fern closes the door behind him, Ceci lifts her head from her makeshift bed in curiosity, blinks hazily, and then promptly lets her head drop again. “Oh? Felt a visit was in order before we implode?”[break][break]

The joke rings a bit hollow in the wake of Jayden’s follow up question. It feels like he’s seen straight through Fern just as keenly.[break][break]

Their hands twist together, and before he can smooth his expression over into something relaxed and nonchalant, his brows knit together and he looks down at the knot his fingers have made.[break][break]

A shaky breath of laughter before his gaze lifts to return to Jayden’s. “Who wouldn’t be?” Everything surrounding it is a bad gut feeling.[break][break]

“Honey.”[break][break]

Fern announces it abrupt, and swivels on fuzzy-socked feet to march back to their kitchen. Their hands lift to pat their cheeks to snap them out of the sullen mood. “Is it still healing well? Your wrist?”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | ....what kinda honey u lookin for, jay >:3[break]

The contact offered is small, miniscule compared to other gestures. But the slide of fingers along the flyaway strands of his hair and tickling at the shell of his ear makes the breath flutter in Fern’s throat. Snagging there as he watches Jayden with wide eyes.[break][break]

Usually, he has the right quip to offer. The proper response to keep things cheeky and lighthearted. And he doesn’t ever feel shy in teasing him. But just then, his brain short circuits and he loses all proper response.[break][break]

Over something so little, it feels silly.[break][break]

But because it’s him, it doesn’t feel little at all. “Your confidence is admirable then.” The response isn’t even a tease, they mean it genuinely. Even feel a bit inspired by the sentiment. “Don’t I think, what?”[break][break]

It’s a question asked as Fern casts a glance back over one shoulder. They feel a bit sheepish for accidentally cutting him off with the declaration, flustered enough themselves to miss the flush of color across his face and the initial misconstruing of the word.[break][break]

“What can I say? I know my stuff.” They rummage through their tea cabinet for the proper jar as they talk. “I’m glad though. And you can come steal my honey anytime.”[break][break]

Another halfhearted attempt at a joke. Their cheekiness hasn’t fully returned just yet, but as they return to him, rolling the jar between their palms, they offer him a small smile at least.[break][break]

“Do you want to stay? I don’t…care for being alone right now.” They ask because they feel they can trust him with the transparency they’ve already offered.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | ....what kinda honey u lookin for, jay >:3[break]

They know that touch is a sparing thing when it comes to him. It’s why they’re careful in doling it out as much as they’d like to behave otherwise. They are, after all, a bit opposite in that regard. Or in many ways, but Fern enjoys that about him.[break][break]

“Of course. It’s no trouble.” The attention given to their dragapult is a nice sight to see, though Ceci never really lacks for attention. Though she makes her approval of the scritches clear—eyes closing and tail swishing.[break][break]

Fern is doting with the select people he chooses to care about and commit his loyalty to. With apparent ease, jayden cross has fallen into that category, so it’s not a triviality when he says this.[break][break]

Their smile widens slightly when he agrees and sets the honey down—silently confirming that it didn’t actually seem to be a pressing need. “I appreciate it, really,” they murmur, and for once, their own face flushed with color at the look he gives them.[break][break]

The softness there is enough to make them melt a little.[break][break]

“Yeah. Yes, I trust you. You’re right.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | ....what kinda honey u lookin for, jay >:3[break]

If Jayden is confident in what’s to come, that should be enough. Fern doesn’t have as solid of a leg to stand on in all of this. This is as much a new experience for him as much as the rest of his time within Rocket has been. But Jayden is solid and tangible and real, and believes in the purpose of the cause. It grounds them, pulls them down from the spiral of their unaddressed and ignored worries.[break][break]

Unconsciously, their head tilts into the contact as their eyes flutter shut. “I’m happy it’s mine you wanted to see.”[break][break]

Fern exhales a shaky breath as they open their eyes once again. “Just in case,” they echo quietly.[break][break]

Carefully, they step closer and hold that violet gaze, soothed by the smile on his face. Then they tilt forward just enough to chance hugging him, arms slipping around his torso if he doesn’t withdraw, and a cheek pressing against his chest.[break][break]

Listening to the steady heartbeat there.[break][break]

“I wish we were going to the same place. It feels a bit pitiful to say aloud, but it’s said all the same.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | ....what kinda honey u lookin for, jay >:3[break]

A small smile is hidden away where their face is pressed against his shirt. The knot that has been steadily twisting in their gut–that instinctive bad, foreboding feeling, eases away under the contact when arms curl around them. Their fingers ball up in the back of his shirt.[break][break]

The quiet question draws a slow, soft sigh from Fern and they pull back. Not enough to untangle from him– there is no doing so now that he’s been granted it, but just enough to look up at Jayden and free one hand to slip up and cradle the side of his face.[break][break]

For a moment, they don’t say anything. All they do is watch him and chew at their bottom lip as they try to sort out how they want to answer, eyes soft with affection. They’ve just said they trust in what they’re setting out to do. That they trust him. So Fern doesn’t speak the first sentiment that rises to the surface. “I only just found you. I don’t want to lose you this quickly.”[break][break]

Funny though, how easily the instinct to be honest rises up in them when they’re with him. It’s rare, given that Fern prefers to embellish most everything about them as a means of keeping most people at a distance. Such a thing feels intolerable when it’s Jayden. They don’t mind if he’s serious or that sentimentality can be stilted. They’ve likely got enough sense of romance for the both of them combined.[break][break]

He is a grounding force, steady and sure. A signal that draws them in. “I always feel better..when I’m by your side.” This is also not a lie.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | ....what kinda honey u lookin for, jay >:3[break]

The uneven canter of his heart matched their own, only further soothing the worry that was dissipating quicker and quicker like a morning fog cut through by the pale sunlight. They would’ve never conjured this up, in all honesty. That they could manage to find this sort of solace in another person. And yet, that is exactly what’s happening.[break][break]

Fern leans back into the press of his forehead, and their smile widens a little. Their thumb smooths across the slight hollow under his eye. Back and forth, slowly.[break][break]

“I think I just need to be distracted, that’s all.” They sway lightly in his hold, side to side. “Think you can manage that?” Just barely there, is that telltale coy lilt to their voice, finally creeping back in. Then they step backward, one step at a time, guiding him along until they can drop onto the couch behind them.[break][break]

The goal is just to tug Jayden along with them to sit if they can manage, but the movement is maybe a bit clumsier than they initially predict.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | ....what kinda honey u lookin for, jay >:3[break]