[attr="class","littlejay"] his nose wrinkles as he steps down the dimly-lit corridor, the stale smell of piss as he heads closer to the public bathroom. normally, jayden would have waited — but there wasn't always a time for waiting.

[break][break] he says goodbye to Felix Gallagher, and instead heads towards to the men's bathroom, pushing his way into the room.

[break][break] or he would, if he didn't nearly run into someone.

[break][break] "ah, sorry —" the apology drops from his mouth as reflex, before violet eyes meet winter-blue.

[break][break] "knox prescott?"

[attr="class","ooc"] knox prescott

☉

white snow on his face and a glint in his eyes. he can fly, even though he has no wings. did the wax melt off already? were those feathers that swaddled him? smothered him? or just sam's blankets? just sam. 

smothered. what a terrible, awful, scary word. 

his past walks right into him and reminds him that he is lost and he can't stop talking to himself. was he talking to himself?

recognition lights up in his eyes. "fuckin' hey, man." he doesn't know what else to do. it's a cry for help (no, knox, it's not, you over-dramatic fuck.) he throws his arms open and wraps them around jayden before the other boy can say anything else. 

"fuckin' missed you!"

jayden cross

☉

[attr="class","littlejay"] knox prescott has a presence, like all the prescotts do. maybe it's the alcohol, but his cheeks flush when his childhood friend wraps his arms around him, pulling him into a hug that is at both suffocating and warm all at once.

[break][break] "i-" missed you too. "what are you doing here, knox?"

[break][break] he seems almost accusatory - even though appearing in a bar's random bathroom stall seems exactly like the kind of thing that his childhood friend, ex-fling would absolutely do.

[break][break] "where's sam?"

[attr="class","ooc"] knox prescott

☉

"the hell you think i'm doin'?" he says with a wild laugh, pointedly ignoring the accusatory tone in jayden's voice. he gives one more squeeze and totters back, sucking in a deep breath and running his fingers through his cotton candy hair. 

his instinct at the mention of sam is to tuck his hands behind his back, but in that louder-than-life kind of way. all dramatic and such. he rocks back and forth on his heels, thinking. 

"mm, what? i'm not that needy and 'sides, he doesn't like to party. but you, you, you. hard sell, but it ain't impossible." he grins, all mischief. "let's get fucked up."

jayden cross

☉

[attr="class","littlejay"] he blinks.

[break][break] there's just something about knox prescott that has always oozed charm, and even in this disgusting bathroom, full of nothing but terrible smells, that remains true.

[break][break] knox's cocky grin pulls him in — punch, line and sinker.

[break][break] "you sound half-way there," he said, before shaking his head. more clearly, he says, "what are you thinking?"

[break][break] because even if he knows knox is all bad news, it's not like jayden has ever been able to resist.

[attr="class","ooc"] knox prescott

☉

okay, so maybe not that hard of a sell. the little bird's probably had a few drinks himself. knox can't really tell because the world kind of looks like a mirror made of puzzle pieces and everything is sharp, sharp, sharp. he sucks in a terse inhale through his nose and reaches into his pocket to pull out his bag of goodies. 

"yellow ones take y'up. blue takes y'sideways. and 'course, the powder's the best part. come and join me, jayyyy."

jayden cross

☉

[attr="class","littlejay"] oh. that kind of party.

[break][break] knox was always in for a wild ride, and even though it was something that jayden would've entertained in their youth, he knows better than to entertain him now.

[break][break] jayden reaches for him and tugs gently on his wrist, hand folding around his.

[break][break] "no. come on knox, let's get you home."

[break][break] with a gentle pull, jayden attempts to drag his friend - well, somewhere, at the very least. anywhere than this bar bathroom.

[attr="class","ooc"] knox prescott

☉

oh, right. jayden doesn't partake in the product. it's wild, thinking of all the fools who move this shit and have the audacity to think them above it all. if they're gonna be bad, why not be bad?

sam doesn't care anyway. doesn't care that i got all cleaned up and pretty.

jayden holds his hand and is saying they should go home, but the music is loud and knox is slippery and too good at what he does. so he hooks and grips harder like a parasite and stumbles backwards, using weight and momentum to drag jayden with him. "oh, c'monnnn. one dance."

jayden cross

☉

[attr="class","littlejay"] normally, pulling on him would've done nothing. jayden is statuesque when it comes to the temptations of peer pressure. at least this version of jayden is. but the version of jayden from their youth is too easy, too moldable, too fond of knox — it peeks into the present as pale digits dig into his shoulder, as the night's intoxication continues to poison the admin deeper.

[break][break] "one dance?" he repeats, his voice something like a slur, as he stumbles — against the nearby door, then through the arc and the dimly lit hallway. they bump against each other, and knox draws a laugh from his throat.

[break][break] "fine," he says. "okay."

[break][break] warmth floods him as he knocks against his childhood friend.

[break][break] "where?"

[attr="class","ooc"] knox prescott

☉

they're out of the hallway and the lights aren't bright enough here, not with the floor as slippery as it is, but he's a pro when it comes to navigating this territory. his nose is still half-frozen, all clogged up, and he's swiping at it while he keeps an iron grip on jayden. 

he's got him hook, line, and sinker, he knows, but knox is sentimental. and lonely. and he likes touching and being touched. 

he misses sam.

"i'unno. there's some room out back. fuck, we dance in the street for all i care, jay."

jayden cross

☉

[attr="class","littlejay"] he'd always had a weakness for knox. knox, who is full of fire and ice, who had dragged him around as a kid for all that he was worth. it was almost like sinking into old habits again, being pulled down that dark hallway.

[break][break] "okay."

[break][break] they stumble from darkness into light. the technobeat of the club beats loud in his ears, as he reaches for knox's arms and tugs him into the limelight.

[break][break] "i'm not a very good dancer, you know."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] knox prescott

☉

there is a dancefloor now where there wasn't before. or maybe he's just misremembering. were the lights always blue? he thought they were green. but anyway, they're purple now and his eyes are glittering. still on the up and up and up and things aren't so bad anymore. 

not with jayden's hands near him and the familiarity it brings. 

"y'ever think in another universe, we were meant for each other?" and then, suddenly, "no, no, 'cause in all universeseses i'm meant for sam, but maybe if sam's not there, it's you, y'know?"

jayden cross

☉

[attr="class","littlejay"] it's familiar, it's easy.

[break][break] dancing with knox prescott is like falling into a shadow of a thought, jumping into a past that he had long ago left behind.

[break][break] "huh? oh - " his hands fall to the sides of knox's hips, dancing along with the music. he's not good at it, but knox makes it so easy and simple, that it feels easy and simple. "maybe."

[break][break] childhood memories aloft, jayden thinks about the easy summers spent with the prescott siblings. of the summers spent in broom closets and midnight galas, of hiding away from all the things in the world that hurt.

[break][break] he could hide in the dark with samuel carter, but fern delaney brought him into the light. they were his sun.

[break][break] "but i think you'd be sad without sam. and i'd be sad without fern."

[break][break] a thought flickers through.

[break][break] "how'd - how'd you know it was sam?"

[break][break] "that he was your forever?"

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] knox prescott

☉