ax_main | Jean-Paul and Simon, backdated 6/13

Jean-Paul is still having Murderworld nightmares. He's throwing himself into ill-advised fights with the elements. And he's just gotten worse news from Simon.

More and more, Simon and Jean-Paul had started climbing into one bed or the other together, even if it did make things a little close-quarters. Simon found that he didn't mind nearly as much as he might have...at least, until he woke in the middle of the night and found the bed empty, and the window ajar. Rain hit the window-pane in heavy droplets, and cool air wafted through the room, blowing at the curtains.

He sat up, goose-pimples rising on his skin as he did so, and he frowned. The open window was a bad sign, but the rain was a worse one. Especially coupled with the thunder he heard rumbling in the distance.

The next peal of thunder was directly overhead. It rolled over the school, rattling the windows. A dark shape moved directly outside the window; Jean-Paul climbed over the sil, looking only mildly surprised to see Simon.

"I thought you'd be sleeping."

Simon pushed out of the bed to go retrieve a towel from the closet, then returned to the window. "You thought I could sleep through my boyfriend attempting suicide by weather?" he asked groggily.

"You know me better than that." Jean-Paul peeled off his wet things and wrapped himself in the towel. "If I wanted to kill myself, I'd make sure there was press around."

"I know you're trying to be funny, but that only makes me more concerned," Simon told him with a sigh, taking the wet things and draping them over the back of a chair. "What were you doing out there in the middle of the night?"

"I had another nightmare," Jean-Paul muttered. "I didn't want to wake you up, and then I heard the thunder. I thought I could... distract myself for a while."

Turning back, Simon caught an edge of the towel and tugged Jean-Paul close. "Idiot. I would rather you wake me up than you go out there and...what? Fight a thunderstorm? What the hell were you thinking? You could have been hit by lightning."

"Hasn't happened yet." Jean-Paul sank into his arms anyway. There was a slight tremor to his limbs as he wrapped himself around Simon. "I'm all right."

As soon as their skin touched, Simon could tell that that was bullshit. The drumbeat of Jean-Paul's heart, and the energy leaping through his nerves was enough to jolt Simon's system awake as well. He folded his arms around his boyfriend, sucking a deep breath. He wanted to rail at him, lecturing him about lightning, about the dangers of flying in such unpredictable weather, about what that much electricity could do to a human (or mutant) body. Instead, he found himself just pulling Jean-Paul against him, holding him tight, burying his lips in his wet hair. Jean-Paul wasn't alright, but Simon wanted to make it better, however he could.

"I'm all right," Jean-Paul whispered again. "You're here. Warren's fine. It's all right. I'm being an idiot, I know."

"You're only an idiot when you fly in thunderstorms," Simon murmured softly, stroking his back. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Jean-Paul's arms tightened around him. "Mm. Remember? When I was waking up after Murderworld? All stitched back together, and... we were talking about how you could have been captured with me? That's what I was dreaming. You and Jeanne-Marie and Warren were there."

Simon sighed softly. "Come back to bed. You can tell me about it if you think it will help."

"Maybe." Jean-Paul stepped away and ran his fingers back through his hair. "I should... let me dry off some more, or I'll just get your pillow wet. And I'll grab a shake or something." Small gestures that communicated a desperate desire to get his world back under control.

Nodding, Simon stepped back, lowering to sit on the edge of the bed. "Do that. But if you take too long, I'm coming to look for you."

"I won't head back out," Jean-Paul promised. "That... it was all impulse. This will take like, a minute." He grabbed his robe off the hook on the closet door, then was gone.

Sighing out, Simon moved to close the window, then dried off the sil and closed the curtains before tossing the towels into the nearest laundry hamper. It was darker in the room with the curtains closed and the storm raging outside, but somehow, it made it seem more cozy, too, and he returned to the bed to stretch out and wait for Jean-Paul's return.

True to his word, Jean-Paul was back shortly. He looked slightly steadier, but he hadn't bothered to make up one of his own shakes; instead, he was opting to drink one right from the can.

He flitted over to sit on the edge of the bed beside Simon and offered him a faint smile.

"All right. Refueling and a little better."

Simon propped his head up on a hand and watched his boyfriend drink the shake. "Was it bad? The situation in your dream world. Or was it just that we were there?"

"I couldn't find you," Jean-Paul muttered. "I would see you or her or Warren on the screens, in trouble. Or hurt. And I couldn't find you."

Reaching out, Simon brushed a thumb over the back of Jean-Paul's hand. "I'm sorry. It probably feels like it's hard to pin us down in real life, too. What with Warren's efforts, my work, and Jeanne-Marie's new love life."

Jean-Paul frowned. "Jeanne-Marie, maybe. We thought the school would be where we could draw closer, but we both spun off into our own lives. But you and Warren are never very far away. Even when you're busy. I'm fast enough to find you."

Simon nodded slightly, but took a deep breath. "So you'll be okay, then, if I disappear for a bit?"

Jean-Paul stared at him a moment, blank and uncomprehending. Refusing to comprehend. "What?"

"I..." God, it was the worst time for the news, but Simon had already fumbled into it, and the only thing he could do was continue onward. "I'm leaving. For a couple of weeks. Around the end of June."

"OK." Jean-Paul finished his shake, still blankly calm. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to look at a couple of schools," Simon told him, laying back into the bed. "And I just. Need some time away. My father's agreed to pay for it, since I'm ostensibly doing what he wants."

"You've been through a lot lately." Jean-Paul tossed the can at the wastebasket beside his desk. It bounced off the rim and hit the carpet, but he didn't bother going to fetch it. "I can see needing time away. It's not every day you find out you're living in a sci-fi movie. And you've been having to put up with my crap."

"You and Warren are the only reasons I don't want to leave," Simon breathed out, then reached out to urge him into the bed beside him.

Jean-Paul climbed up beside him obediently. Thunder shuddered the building again. Jean-Paul pulled the blankets up and wrapped his arms tight around Simon.

"Want company? It's not like I have anything lined up."

"And how would that look?" Simon asked, raising an eyebrow and quirking his lips softly.

"Like I'm a loyal and supportive friend, of course. Who will kick the ass of anyone who gives you crap while you're touring campus."

Simon shook his head with a small smile. "I wouldn't ask you to do that. Besides, I need to do this on my own. I need to...I need to be on my own for a little while. I need to clear my head and rearrange my priorities. I can't just keep walking around in a haze."

Simon was leaving. Simon was leaving, going out into the world by himself where there were all sorts of fuckers with a hate-on for mutants, and Jean-Paul wasn't going with him. Jean-Paul's hold on Simon tightened.

"You wouldn't need to ask. But all right. You'll text every day, all right? We'll pick a set time, so I know you're OK."

That earned him a sigh. "Jean-Paul, I'll be fine. I'd rather not have to check in with you every five minutes. I just...I just need some time alone."

"It's not every five minutes," Jean-Paul protested. "It's once a day so I know you're all right and not trapped in some fucking murder machine. OK?"

Simon sighed heavily. "What if I agree to text you once a day, but not to the schedule? I have no idea what my schedule is going to be like, especially given my...status. I've already had a few requests for meetings from professors."

"Deal," Jean-Paul said at once, willing to take a compromise if it meant he still had a lifeline while Simon was away. "Merci."

Leaning up to kiss him briefly, Simon nodded. "Of course. I'm sorry, I don't want to add to your worries."

"Fuck." Jean-Paul hid his face against Simon's neck and sighed against him. "Simon, you don't. You know I'm overprotective as hell. And this... none of this makes it easier. I'm used to the idea of people hating me, OK? I got death threats before I ever came here. I just... you and Warren and Jeanne-Marie and Raymonde... I don't want to put all this shit on you too, but I can't think of leaving you either."

Simon wrapped him up in a hug, breathing in the scent of his storm-damp hair. "I don't want you to leave. Dump anything you want."

"That's a relief," Jean-Paul murmured. "I'm not strong enough to walk away from something I want."

That earned him a smile in the dark, and Simon pulled the covers over the both of them. "Let me know if you have another nightmare? Before you go flying out into the rain?"

"If you feel like you can deal with a speedster who might need to fight something," Jean-Paul said quietly. "I'm... I feel like I should be getting better faster than I am."

Simon blinked at that, and he shifted back to try and look at Jean-Paul's face in the darkness. "Is that...have you been worried about that? That your mutation isn't building on itself?"

"No, I mean... I'm healed. But I'm still having nightmares. All that bullshit."

"Oh," Simon breathed, cursing his half-awake brain for not following Jean-Paul's meaning. He then wrapped his arm a bit tighter around him and took a deep breath. "Unfortunately, psychological damage takes much longer to heal than the body, and we're still fumbling in the dark for treatments that are the most useful - most efficient."

"Yeah." Jean-Paul sighed into his arms. "So. Just... sorry for taking so long."

"You realize that you never have to apologize to me, especially about your health," Simon told him quietly. "If there's anything at all that I understand, it's that."