Work Text:
Jade thinks she’s more than earned the right to sulk.
In the span of a day, she’d gotten fired from her job at Dunkin Donuts for talking back to a customer, then gone home to surprise her girlfriend, only to find her girlfriend cheating on her in the bed Jade bought for her . She’s earned her sulking. She hasn’t left her bed in three days except to use the bathroom, and she plans to keep it like that for the rest of time. What else is there? It’s so much easier just to sit and rot and do nothing than to try and muster up the energy for everything. Not worth it. Not like anyone misses her, anyways-
“JADE!”
Someone shouts from outside the apartment door. There’s a bit of shuffling, then the lock clicks and the door swings open. Through the crack in her own bedroom door, she can see Xavier, looking around before meeting her eyes and walking over to the bedroom. He grins entirely too cheerfully for her current mood.
“Goooood morning, sunshine! Welcome to the land of the living!” He beams. Jade frowns, but he continues, either not noticing her foul mood or not caring.
“You can’t stay in bed forever, you know. Bed is for sleeping and fucking and you’re a lesbian with insomnia so-” He’s cut off by her throwing a spare pillow at the door, slamming it shut.
“FUCK OFF.” She yells, face buried in a spare pillow. Xavier just opens the bedroom door again, still grinning like an idiot.
“Nah, we are getting out of bed today man.” He walks over to the side of the bed and squats to be eye level with her.
“And fair warning,” He starts, pointing at her, “I did turn the heat off when I came in, so this is gonna be about as painful for you as it currently is for me. Ready?”
Jade turns onto her other side and flips him the bird. Xavier smiles and pulls the blanket off. She shrieks at the cold and hits him with a pillow. He laughs, because he’s an optimistic smug bitch and she hates him so much. She tells him as much, groaning and grumbling, and he just pats her back, still smiling.
“Have a shower immediately,” he chirps, ignoring her declaration of hate, “And when you think you’re clean and you smell good you’re not and you don’t! And bring some clean clothes with you, cause once you get in you’re not gonna want to get out so you need that extra motivation and-” He pauses in his spiel as he notices Jade sniffing a shirt to make sure it’s clean. There’s a beat of silence where he just looks at her, disappointed. Jade gives a guilty smile. He puts one hand on the bride of his nose.
“Christ above, Jade, if you have to do a smell check they’re not clean - that’s it, I’m adding laundry to the list of things to do today.”
She frowns the whole time as she grabs ‘clean’ clothes- A barely readable purple band t-shirt with the stereotypical metal font and grey cargo pants- from the mess that is her closet. Still, she makes her way to the shower, flipping off Xavier again as she closes the bathroom door behind her.
Of course, since he’s a peppy bitch, Xavier shouts through the door: “This is what we do! We get clean, we get our bodies feeling better, we put some clean fucking clothes on, and we eat a good meal! Speaking of which, I sent the PD out to get stuff for omelets, so expect them sometime!”
Jade just groans again.
She makes the mistake of looking at herself in the mirror- and, okay, yeah, maybe she does need a shower really bad. She’s still got the remains of smudged eyeliner and eyeshadow from three days ago surrounding her eyes, making her look like some deranged raccoon with purple hair. Speaking of her hair, it’s also a shit show, oily and tangled. She’s already dreading having to get the knots out.
—
Thirty five minutes, a brush, a wide tooth comb, and half a bottle of conditioner later, Jade reluctantly steps out of the bathroom, only for her arm to be immediately grabbed by Xavier and then be forcefully dragged to the kitchen instead of being allowed to go back to her bed and be sad in peace. This is because Xavier hates her personally and wants her dead.
The whiteboard on her fridge has been made into a checklist with “SUPER COOL AWESOME DAY PLAN” written in Xavier’s blocky handwriting at the top. It makes her smile, just a little. Only a little though, because Xavier is still a bitch right now.
The list reads “Get out of bed, get showered, eat breakfast, clean kitchen, do laundry, make bed”, each with a little box to be checked off when the task has been done. Xavier hands her a dry erase marker, grinning.
“Well? Check off the list, man!” He says, bouncing on the balls of his feet eagerly.
She reluctantly crosses off “Get out of bed” and “Get showered”, before getting annoyed with the sloppiness and beginning to meticulously fill in each box with the purple marker she’d been handed while Xavier checks his phone.
“So what now?” she asks when the boxes are filled to her liking, turning to face Xavier.
“Well, they should be here any sec-” He’s cut off by the door swinging open, Dakota grinning front and center with his hands on his hips, superhero pose. Behind him, Ashe waves a little, carrying a small bag of groceries.
“HI!!” Dakota half shouts, waving aggressively at Jade. “We brought food!! Or, stuff to make food, anyway.”
“Will and Vynce should be here in a bit,” Ashe says to Xavier, setting the bag down on the kitchen counter. “Will insisted that we needed hair dye, and not the shitty box ones you get at Target, so they’re driving out to a Sally Beauty.”
Xavier squints. “Why do we need hair dye?”
“Problems cannot be solved with a new dye job. But by God does it make you feel better.” Ashe explains. Jade nods solemnly.
“As is stated in the Good Book of Emo.” She states, voice humorless.
“As is stated.” Ashe responds with equal solemnity. Xavier just looks on in confusion.
While they’ve been talking, Dakota’s already started rustling around the cabinets for a pan, albeit unsuccessfully, probably because he’s looking in the cabinet where Jade keeps cups.
“Pans are on the left bottom, Dakota.” Xavier says, unpacking the groceries. “Did you guys get the good onions?” He asks Ashe.
“Yup. Red ones from the back of the bin. Plus eggs, cheese, butter, and chives, obviously.” She nods, eyes falling to the whiteboard. “Mind if I..?” Jade shakes her head, and Ashe makes her way to the fridge, sketching something with a green marker.
Jade takes the opportunity to slink back toward her room. Unfortunately, Xavier notices and runs after her.
“Hey!” He stops her right before she can actually open the door. He goes to say something else, but clocks the look on her face and softens his tone. “Look, everyone has times they wanna stay asleep forever. It’s normal . Sometimes it lasts days, weeks, months…” He hesitates, a sad smile playing on his lips. “Even years. But here’s the thing-” He places his hands on her shoulders, a determined look in his eyes. “Nobody ever got happier sitting around waiting to get happier. So stop trying to leave, and start making yourself some fucking breakfast, How is it almost 3 PM, come on!” He yanks her arm, dragging her back toward the kitchen.
Dakota’s on his tiptoes, looking over Ashe’s shoulder as she dices an onion. “What are you doing?” She asks, incredulousness weighed down with affection.
“Watching!” Dakota chirps back, still attempting to look over her shoulder.
Ashe sighs fondly. “Can one of you guys chop up the chives?” She asks, looking over to Jade and Xavier.
“Jade’ll do it!” Xavier smiles. Jade whips her head to look at him.
”Jade did not volunteer for this!” She hisses at him. Xavier just beams.
“You need to do something, man! Come on, chop chop!” He laughs at his own pun. Jade sighs.
“You’re not funny.”
“I’m literally the most funny person in the history of ever.”
“Sureee, man. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” She drawls, grabbing a cutting board and knife. Xavier puts one hand on his forehead and swoons dramatically.
”You’re so cruel, Jade! Mean to me!” He declares. Jade ignores him in favor of slicing chives. The apartment door swings open again.
“We come bearing gifts,” William says, holding a bag in one hand. Vyncent waves eagerly behind him. More people. More faces and voices in her dinky little apartment that hasn’t been cleaned in like, four days. She’s not quite sure why any of them even came. They weren’t exactly missing much.
“I still don’t understand why you needed hair dye,” Xavier remarks, snapping Jade out of her spiral.
“Dude. It’s hair dye. Hair dye makes everything better.” William states, incredulous. “This is like, common sense.”
“I guarantee you it is not.”
“Finished with the chives,” Jade interrupts, before the conversation can continue. “Where do you want ‘em?”
“Uh, just put the cutting board by the stovetop, I’ll add it in when I actually get the omlet started.” Ashe responds, looking up from her chopping. “There’s so many onions…” She laments jokingly, even though she’s clearly almost done with the last one, having completed over double the dicing Jade did in roughly the same amount of time.
“Oh, great!” Xavier exclaims. “If you’re done chopping, we can start laundry while they cook!”
Jade wrinkles her nose. “We don’t… have to start laundry..” She starts, William snickering behind her.
“Yeah we do, man!” Xavier responds, unrelenting. “Look, we do this stuff- we wake up, we get out of bed, we get dressed, we clean up last night’s mess and do the laundry- not because it’s guaranteed to make us feel good, but not doing it?” He points a finger at her. “Guaranteed to make us feel bad.”
There’s a beat where everyone just looks at Xavier. “Also I don’t want to make food right now,” He relents, and the room breaks into laughter.
“I can help with laundry, if you want.” Vyncent pipes up. “I need to get better at figuring out which colors can be washed together and which can’t anyways.”
“How do you not know that?” Jade questions.
“It doesn’t make sense, ” Vyncent hisses. “Red and white can’t go together but gray and red are fine??? It’s witchcraft!”
“Please teach him before he ruins all of our colored shirts.” William sighs. “I don’t know how to teach him. He doesn’t understand.”
“Too chronically himbo.” Ashe laments.
“I thought I was a himbo??” Dakota asks, faux-pouting.
“Vyncent’s too evil to be a himbo.” Jade adds, before she realizes what the hell she’s saying and wonders how the fuck she got here.
Before she can start that spiral, though, Xavier pipes up. “Don’t you have bleed-free detergent?”
“I do,” Jade responds. “So we can just put everything in one machine.”
Vyncent looks like she’s just told him unicorns are real. He turns to William. “We have to buy that.” He pleads. William snorts and nods. “It would certainly solve some issues.”
“Man, who talks like that?? It would certainly solve some issues, ” Dakota mocks from his spot on the counter. William sticks his tongue out at him. Dakota sticks his out in response. Jade rolls her eyes.
“Great contributions, you two. I’m gonna gather my dirty clothes before X blows me up with his mental health lazer.” Xavier smiles too big, showing all his teeth. Jade flips him off.
“You love me!” He calls after her as she moves to her room.
”Whatever helps you sleep at night, bud.” She responds, smiling despite herself.
—
“So,” prompts William, after the laundry has been dragged downstairs to the washing machine and the plates used to eat the omelettes have been washed, “What color are you thinking? I got purple, green, and black, but I can run out and get something else, if you want.”
Jade muses for a second, considering her options and squinting at her hair in the mirror. “I’ve had the purple for so long…” she trails off, rubbing a strand of hair between her fingers. “I kinda wanna try green, though. For funzies.”
“And emotional breakdown reasons?”
“William, I just said the word ‘funzies’. Of-fucking-course it’s also for emotional breakdown reasons.”
William snorts. “Yeah, alright. This shade look ok to you, or do you wanna try to darken it with the black?”
“Mmm… Hand me the mixing bowl, I wanna make it a little darker.”
William hands her the mixing bowl, and Jade gets to work making sure she adds just the smallest amount of black dye to not overpower the green. It’s nice to have something to do with her hands.
“You guys didn’t have to come, you know.” She says, unbidden, watching the colors spiral together. “You and Vyncent and Dakota and Ashe. Xavier wouldn’t have minded.”
William squints. “Well, we’re already here now, so unless you’re trying to get me to leave-”
“No, it’s just-” Jade sighs. “Like, if this happens again. You don’t have to come. Xavier can be pushy but he won’t like, actually mind if you don’t.”
William blinks blankly at her. “Jade, we came because we wanted to.” He explains. “Xavier barely even asked, just shot Ashe a text because they were supposed to play Cult of The Lamb later and he probably wasn’t gonna be available. All this-” He gestures at the hair dye and then toward the kitchen, “Is because we wanted to.”
Jade stops in her machinations for a second, gears turning in her head, trying to make sense of the situation. “So you guys showed up just to like… annoy me out of bed or whatever?” She passes the bowl of dye back to him slowly, content with the shade.
“I mean,” William grabs the bowl from her hand. “I kinda understand what it’s like, you know?” He shrugs with one shoulder, holding the dye brush in his other hand. “It’s not something you do alone. Not something you can do alone. We can help, so we help.”
Jade… doesn’t know what to say to that. She settles for a nod and a whispered ‘thanks’. William gives her a small smile, the lines of scar tissue on his wrists glinting in the harsh bathroom light.
“I’m glad you’re not dead, Jade.” he responds to her silence, and then begins applying the green dye.
—
Once the dye has been applied and all there is to do is blow-dry her hair and then shower again, Jade ushers William out of the bathroom, scrolling absent-mindedly through her barrage of missed texts from the past few days that she’s been too lazy to check.
Inferno (MT Work)
Yesterday, 9:32 PM
where the fuck are you
you know it’s larp night don’t make me put up with these nerds alone
they’re gonna ask me for our finest mead again. we don’t have mead cantrip
wavelength’s floor manager too. you’ve abandoned me on my darkest day
you got fucking le frog to take your shifts
You
Today, 2:09 PM
he’s the only other person who’s number i have
besides you wavelength and OL
Inferno (MT Work)
worst lineup ever i barely managed to not kill him
should have ripped his vocal cords out for the offense of being french
did you die
You
nah
got dumped + lost my other job
and some other stuff
i’ll be at my shift tmrw probs
Inferno (MT Work)
you fucking better be
dont die
i need someone to bitch about larpers with
and to help me annoy wavelength
You
wasn’t planning on it lmao
see you tmrw loser
Inferno (MT Work)
later
You
no shithead??
no see you loser later shithead??
Inferno (MT Work)
you seemed like you were having a bad time sue me for being nice
You
you should never try to be nice
Inferno (MT Work)
fuck you too
be there or be square
later shithead
You
THATS MORE LIKE IT
SEE YOU LOSER
read at 2:28 pm
She snickers to herself at the exchange. At least she’s still got one job- albeit at a Medieval Times that insists all it’s workers have aliases at work. Still, Inferno isn’t half bad company, and one of these days she’ll convince Wavelength to let her perform in a joust despite his lectures about ‘saftey’ and ‘lawsuits’ and how ‘he should have retired so fucking long ago’. Buzzkill.
The timer on her phone rings loudly, signalling she can stop drying her hair and get in the shower to condition it, so Jade sets down her phone and turns on the water, mentally lamenting how irritated her scalp will be from two sets of hard-core conditioning in one day.
—
“Aww, do I not get to see the new color?” Xavier faux-pouts as she walks out of the bathroom.
“It’s still drying, dumbass.” Jade deadpans, hair wrapped in a towel turban on her head. “Have you never seen the color green before?”
“Not when it’s in your hair!” Xavier retorts, sitting backwards on a chair. Jade flicks his forehead. He swoons backwards dramatically.
“I’m hit!” He laments, falling into Ashe’s shoulder. Ashe, who’d previously been busy making figure drawings on the fridge whiteboard, looks up for a second for a mere second. She makes eye contact with Xavier, then Jade, and then promptly flicks Xavier’s forehead again. Xavier gasps loudly.
“I’ve been betrayed…” He murmurs dramatically, holding a hand over his heart. Jade rolls her eyes and plops down on the couch next to Vyncent, who is hunched over a law textbook with so many words per page it makes her head hurt.
“We should get you into a LARP group, X. For like, enrichment.” William pipes up from the other side of Vyncent. Jade groans loudly.
“Please, God, anything but LARP.” She despairs, putting her head in her hands.
“What’s so bad about LARPers?” William asks, biting back a smile. Jade reaches over Vyncent’s back to put her hands on his shoulders.
“William. I work at a Medieval Times.” She looks dead into his eyes. “Do you know how irritating it is to try and keep ‘in character’ so you don’t lose your job while talking to people who know way more about the time period you’re supposed to be from than you do, and are more than willing to correct you?”
“Have you tried getting good at the game.”
There’s a beat of silence.
“I’m gonna kill him,” Jade says, rolling up her sleeves. “I’m actually going to kill this guy.”
“Me next,” Vyncent pipes up, still engrossed in his textbook.
“To kill Will or to get killed?”
Vyncent turns to face Ashe. “When are finals?”
“Uhh…A month from now?” She replies, squinting. “I think.”
“Ok. Both.” Vyncent nods with finality. Xavier wheezes.
—
Two hours, an in depth discussion about the pros and cons of college education with enough tangents to make a tangerine, three attempts to suffocate someone in a pillow, and five new high scores on Block Blast from Dakota later, they’ve all curled up either on the couch or in a blanket pile on the floor, watching The Princess Bride as the daylight slips away.
Most of them are half asleep, which makes sense. It’s nearing 11 o’clock at night, and the only reason she’s still awake is because her sleep schedule has gone to shit over the last three days.
The nature of squeezing six onto the couch or right below it means someone’s pressed up against every part of her body, but she doesn’t hate it, or feel trapped, or anything like that, which is weird. Good-weird, but weird. She thinks she likes it. That’s probably the weirdest part.
Xavier, right next to her on the couch, cracks an eye open at this moment, sensing her spiral with his magic mental health powers, or something.
“Hey,” he whispers.
“Hey,” Jade whispers back.
“You good?” He asks. Jade nods.
“Cool. I’ll be here tomorrow.” He whispers, because he knows Jade and knows that’s what her brain needed to hear right now.
“You don’t…have to. I can take care of things.” She murmurs, fiddling with her hands. Xavier shakes his head.
“Jade,” he starts, “Everyone here right now is here because they want to be. We want you around. We like being around you.”
Oh , Jade thinks.
Oh, okay. This is love. These are people who want to see her not-dead. These are people who went out of their way to buy materials for an omelet and hair dye, to color on her white board, to help clean her house, to do her laundry, to get her out of bed however they could, solely because they wanted to. Because they wanted her. This is love. This is five whole people who love her. Even when she’s a shitshow. Especially when she’s a shitshow, apparently. Oh. Okay. Cool. That’s- she’s cool about this. She’s normal right now. She’s not crying, not even a little bit, because she’s really normal and cool right now, and can deal with the fact that people care about her without wanting anything in return in super normal and cool ways.
“Jade,” Xavier whispers, “You okay?”
“‘M fine,” she whispers back, teary. “Just- thanks. For this.”
For loving me, she doesn’t say.
Xavier hears it anyway.
“It’s not hard. You don’t need to thank me.” He smiles softly, laying his head on top of her shoulder.
She leans into the touch.