Room 313, Saturday night

[solo_sword]

Jaina had handwavily spent most of her evening in the garage, returning far later than she'd expected. She got back to her room, changing out of her coverall and clothes to change for bed, and remembering to make sure she didn't still have grease smeared across her face at all.

Still not tired, though, she curled up on her bed with the first datapad she grabbed, really glad it wasn't the one Artoo had downloaded to.

Comments

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

After some interesting events, John found himself outside Jaina's room, not really sure why he was there. He knocked anyway, thinking maybe she would know.

[solo_sword]

Checking her chronometer, but able to get a sense of who was on the other side, she put the datapad down and went to open the door. "Hi."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Hi!" he said, leaning on the door frame. "Do you know why I'm here?"

[solo_sword]

"No," Jaina answered slowly. "Am I supposed to?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I had hopes," he said, thoughtfully.

[solo_sword]

"Planning on leaning on that doorframe all night?" she asked, more amused than anything.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John was pretty comfortable leaning, and the doorframe was holding him up steadily. "I think I can come in," he said and walked over to flop down on her bed.

[solo_sword]

She closed the door again, smiling when she saw how he'd ended up. "So what have you been up to tonight?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"There were evil shots, and darts, and a horse, and pillows," he told her, burying his face in a pillow.

[solo_sword]

"Eventful night," she said, sitting on the edge of the bed near his legs. "Not that I know how any of those things go together..."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"It's all Karal," John said. "He called, I went, I drank."

[solo_sword]

"You went drinking with Karal?" she asked, trying to picture Karal in this state. "I am so sorry I missed this."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"And Luke and Gavin and Jim," he rambled. "You should've come. They all seem to like your pillows."

[solo_sword]

"Sorry, don't think I could drink with my teenage uncle. My pillows?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

He yanked the pillow from under his head. "Karal says yours are the best. He did mean pillows, right?" Now John was worried.

[solo_sword]

"As far as I know," Jaina assured him. "I gave him a pillow to take home so he could make himself comfortable in long meetings in hard chairs."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Good. I maintain that mine are better." Relieved, John put the pillow back. "No Inara?"

[solo_sword]

She stretched out her legs next to him, crossing them at the ankles. "Not at the moment. I was in the garage, I'm not sure where she is."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"You weren't sleeping already, were you?" he asked, noticing her clothes.

[solo_sword]

"Do I look sleepy?" she asked, then realized that wasn't the sort of question to ask someone who'd bee drinking. "Just got back a few minutes before you showed up, actually. Nice timing."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"You look hot," he said, lacking a filter. "Time is on my side." Happily, he didn't sing it.

[solo_sword]

Jaina might have blushed a little, caught off guard. "It definitely seems like you had fun tonight," she said dryly.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I deserved fun," he said matter-of-factly.

[solo_sword]

"You did," she said. "Any particular reason?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Well, there was the whole class thing and then the punching holiday," he explained.

[solo_sword]

"There's a holiday for punching now?" she asked, glad she'd avoided it.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I think it was in the newspaper," John said. "I tried to eat a sandwich and was sucker punched here." He pointed to his jaw.

[solo_sword]

She moved closer, leaning forward to peer at his jaw. "If this happened a week earlier you might have avoided Parents Weekend," she said.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I vaguely remember trying that," he replied.

[solo_sword]

"Yeah, you mentioned something about it," she said, lightly brushing his jaw with her finger in case it still hurt. "Maybe next week you can avoid it altogether."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"It's a good goal," he said, leaning into her finger. "But I have no control over these things."

[solo_sword]

"Wish really hard?" she suggested, lightly scratching a nail under his chin before sitting up again. "Optimism, remember."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Meh," he muttered. "Do you hate my hair?" he was drunk and vain.

[solo_sword]

She didn't have a lot of experience talking to drunk people, surprisingly. "Do I hate your hair? No. It has character."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Good, because I'm not shaving my head," he told her. "No matter what the horse did." This all made complete sense to him.

[solo_sword]

Wow. "The horse did... what?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"He nuzzled me," John complained. "And snotted on my head." Except not.

[solo_sword]

"You're washing those pillows," she warned. "Wait, did you take Trenor drinking?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"No, no," John grinned. "He's over in the school with a nice trashcan of water."

[solo_sword]

"I definitely need to hear this story when you're sober," she decided.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I'm sober!" he argued, sitting up and reaching his forefinger to touch his nose. "See!"

[solo_sword]

"You still have coordination. That's not sober. You did just wander down here without knowing why, remember."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I remember now," he said, flopping back down on the bed. "It's obvious. Sleep."

[solo_sword]

"Easier than the fifth floor, huh? You definitely should be getting some sleep," she said, getting up to fill a glass of water from the bathroom sink and put it on the desk.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Your room was closer and had you in it," he said, kicking off his shoes.

[solo_sword]

"Better answer than mine," she said with a little smile, climbing over him to squeeze into the space closer to the wall. Just in case he ended up having to get up at all.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"'S right," he murmured, his breathing slowing, and a little snore escaping his mouth.

[solo_sword]

Yeah. Totally sober.

Shaking her head at him and flicking out the light, she made herself comfortable enough to fall asleep.