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Lois Lane ([personal profile] skepticgirl_1) wrote2017-11-23 01:09 pm
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stay with me, go places

We were having Thanksgiving dinner. It didn't matter to me that Jake was Welsh and probably couldn't care less about the founding of America. I wasn't even sure I cared all that much, considering how crappy we were to the Native Americans and how much of a farce a lot of that history was. But I needed Thanksgiving. Just like I had gone to that concert on the Fourth of July, for something homey, for something familiar, I needed a Thanksgiving to remind me of who I was. What I had lost but also what I had to be thankful for.

It was really hard to be thankful for anything in this city, considering, but I had tried. I had Jake, I had friends, I had a job. I had a roof over my head and enough money for whatever I wanted (mostly) and my health. I still had memories of home and what it meant to me. I had a lot, all things considered. I was going to take this one day -- okay, maybe a few hours of this day -- to be happy for that.

The only problem was I didn't know how to cook. Mom always managed this kind of stuff and I was regulated to the boring stuff that Lucy wasn't allowed to do because it involved sharp objects. Peeling potatoes, cutting up carrots and onions. I had no idea what even to do with a turkey. So I had cheated and bought a precooked turkey, one of the smaller ones (even though it seemed like no small turkeys existed, did they really evolve to be this fat and covered with feathers?), and then I cheated more by buying the pie, instant potatoes, easy bake biscuits and the kind of stuffing that you only needed to add water to and bake.

I did however make my own green bean casserole. That was way easier than I had expected, so I was proud of my work. After mashing up some cranberry so it wasn't that jelly-can shape, I brought the bowl and myself over to the table.

"Alright, time to say what you're grateful for. Then we can eat."

There were going to be leftovers for days.
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-11-20 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
There was a lot of food. Jake hadn't seen this much food outside of the parties Darrow threw and that amount of food was for lots of people. This was just for them. Jake's stomach grumbled and he rubbed his hands together.

"What I'm grateful for?" he repeated, looking up and arching an eyebrow. "That a real thing you Americans do? What happens if someone's not thankful for anything? Do they say that?"

He was giving her a hard time because he could. Because she hadn't done anything horribly dumb during the Purge and he hadn't had to bail her out of jail or pick her up from the hospital. So, teasing her was allowed. It was mandatory.
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-11-20 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Jake snickered at her before holding up a hand in surrender. He did not want to be banished from the table and the growl of his stomach told him that he would regret it if he got too smart and she grounded him or something.

He put his napkin on his lap and then folded his hands together, looking thoughtful. "Well, I'm grateful that you didn't get yourself into too much trouble on Halloween. And I'm grateful that me squad car wasn't driven into the ocean that night either."

There were other things he wa thankful for but so many of those were very personal so he was going to see how deep she wanted this to go before opening up.
Edited 2017-11-20 23:32 (UTC)
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-11-27 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"Aww, I'm touched, I really am," Jake said, putting a hand over his heart and sighing dramatically. "That might be the sweetest thing anyone's said to me in like...five hours."

He picked up his fork and held it aloft over his plate. "Safe to eat now or are there more American traditions that I need to learn? Special song? Special handshake? Do I have to eat a specific food first?"

He tapped his fork against the plate and then added, "Do I have to make a speech since it's my first Thanksgiving?"
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-11-28 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"You're trying to get me to disparage my country now?" Jake asked, tutting her and shaking his head. "I know I give you a lot of leeway but insulting the Union Jack's just not something I'm willing to do, mate. It's a step too far and my heart won't let me do it. Besides, we have a queen and you don't."

He stuck his tongue out at her before he started going for the food, dumping heaps onto his plate and not caring that various foods were going to end up mixed together in weird concoctions.

"Why cranberry on the turkey, though?" he asked her, shaking his head. "Turkey seems just fine without that and cranberry's not bad on its own. Gravy I can understand going on everything but cranberry sauce?"
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-11-28 08:37 pm (UTC)(link)
"What else does she do besides being bloody awesome, you mean?" Jake asked, fixing her with a look before scoffing. "That's all she needs to do is be bloody awesome and intimidate the hell out of people with just one look. I can't do that. Can you do that?"

He had a fairly good glare but there would be no glare better than that of Britain's queen. She was one of a kind when it came to just standing there and being terrifying.

"And fine, fine, I will trust you on this, Lois, because you know the food better than me but I reserve the right to not like it," Jake decided, spreading some cranberry sauce atop his turkey. "Just a warning."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-11-28 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"When you're ninety, I'm probably going to be over a century old and probably not alive unless technology has seriously gotten better at keeping people alive," Jake pointed out. "I don't know if I wanna be alive that long anyway. Let me die around seventy or eighty and I'll be good."

Jake finished putting food on his plate and sat back, taking it all in. "I know you worked hard on this so don't worry, even if it's terrible, I'm gonna eat it. I can't remember the last time I had a homecooked meal. My mum got too sick to really cook back home and my dad was really never there. So, I ate a lot of take away Chinese."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-11-30 07:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ah, cancer," Jake said as nonchalantly as he could. "It was getting pretty bad there for awhile. I think she'd...accepted that she wasn't going to make it right around the time I ended up here."

There were many things he didn't like about not being in Brighton. Not being able to be there for his mum was the biggest one. If his father didn't get his act together, she'd have no one. She'd be alone as she got worse and worse and worse. It was a horrible thought and one that was difficult to swallow down.

He grabbed for his drink and took a few big gulps before sighing. "Sucks."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-01 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah," Jake said, taking a heavy breath before exhaling and shaking his head. "Nothing to be done about it now, is there? Can't get back there and don't get to know what's going on so just gotta hope that she's hanging on."

If she wasn't, he didn't know what he'd do if he got back to Brighton to find out his mother had died. She would never blame him or make him feel guilty for not being there but she wouldn't have to. Jake would blame himself and that guilt would never, ever abate.

"Don't go telling anyone that, yeah?" Jake asked, frowning. "I haven't told many people about her."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-01 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"I trust you and all but just wanted it said," Jake told her, waving a hand and trying to dismiss the aura of melancholy and sadness he'd brought to the table. He might not know much outside of what everyone knows about American Thanksgiving but he knew it wasn't a time for talking about dying mothers.

"Anyway, what's been up with you lately?" Jake asked her. "Anything exciting or anything that I should prepare to see you in the station for?"
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-01 07:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, that was a shitty day all around," Jake agreed with a bob of his head. "I don't really understand a city that lets something like that happen but I'm not in charge. Hopefully it's not allowed to happen again."

But, there was no way to tell in Darrow. It could happen next week and Jake would be, once again, powerless to stop it from happening.

"Anything worrying for the midterms? I always sucked at math."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-01 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"There's a guy?" Jake smirked at her, resisting the urge to tease her about this random guy who wasn't a friend but helped her out. "I don't know, Lois, someone who helps someone else out sounds pretty friendly to me. What's his name?"

Jake just wanted to know because he was curious. And because he would absolutely run a background check on this kid to make sure he wasn't some horrible criminal when he wasn't helping young girls with their school work.
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-02 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
"I am so running a background check on him," Jake countered with a knowing smirk. "You can't stop me. It's my right and my responsibility as your guardian. I wouldn't want you falling in with the wrong crowd especially if I can help it."

He would hear no argument. He wouldn't dig too deeply on this kid, just enough to make sure he didn't have any priors and wasn't in some gang that he didn't know about.

"You would do the same thing in my position and you know it."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-02 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
Jake gave her a look over his drink and then laughed. "Are you seriously asking about my love life? Really?"

Not even his mum really asked him about that but he knew she had other things on her mind that weren't who her son was seeing at that particularly time in his life.

"Well, lately it's been nonexistent much to my chagrin," Jake told her, shrugging. "Not a lot of time between getting this all set up, working, the whole Purge thing and all. I'll get around it at some point, I'm sure."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-02 11:08 am (UTC)(link)
"You're not cramping my style," Jake told her, making a face. "I've been busy, okay? Honestly, that's all it's been. I've still gone out, still seen a few of my mates but just haven't brought anyone home to meet you or anything because nothing's that serious and I just haven't really cared all that much."

He shrugged. There were a few men out there that he liked, cared about but work had been stressful and he'd been sorting things out between him and Lois that being with guys had just fallen to the wayside.

"That eager to try and catch someone here so you can make fun of me, yeah?"
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-02 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"No, I don't feel like that. I'm older than you but I'm way too fucking young to be anyone's parent," Jake said, making a face. "I don't even know if I'm built for parenthood. I've seen the kind of shit I put my parents do and I don't want to deal with that on my end ever if I can help it."

Jake flicked some mashed potatoes at her to prove that he most definitely wasn't some overbearing pseudo parent.

"If you decide to bring anyone by, that's cool but please let me know because I do not want to walk in on anything gross."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-04 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hey, you won't see me trying to talk you into it or anything," Jake said because that would just be weird, finding her here in a compromising position with someone. He wasn't her parent but he was a guardian so he'd have to make sure things were on the up and up.

"You will make friends, though, right?" Jake asked, eyeing her. "You shouldn't just be someone who thinks of people as subjects and stuff. Make friends, have fun, that sort of thing. You're willing to do that, yeah?"
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-05 02:27 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, I get that," Jake said, nodding agreeably. "I just don't want you to think you can't have friends or something. That I'm gonna get all overbearing or scary or something. I'd rather you have friends that aren't me, you know? I'm a shitty friend."

He was unreliable and he made bad decisions and his instincts weren't always the best when it came to his personal life. But, he wanted to try and do right by her and make sure she had a healthy household to come home to and enjoy. Even if he wasn't going to be a warm person, he would make sure she had a good place to be.

They'd always have food, at least, even if said food was Chinese takeaway.

"And yeah, please don't go getting into too much trouble. I know I can't stop it all but if I have to run to the hospital every time you get into something, I'm gonna be pissed."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-06 05:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Jake groaned and covered his face with his hand, shaking his head. "And how many times have you been arrested? Is it more than ten? If it's more than ten, I'm going to have a stroke."

She was too young to have been arrested that many times already. But, she was also great at sticking her nose into places that it didn't belong and had a knack for finding just the wrong place at the wrong time.

"You're not gonna make me count your strikes, are you? Three strikes and you're out kinda deal?"
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-06 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hey, from what I heard, it's the preacher's kids or the military families that have the worst behaved kids," Jake said, pointing at her with his fork. "They want to go wild because they're parents don't want them to do a damn thing fun."

But, it was good to know that she wasn't some common criminal that he was going to have to wake up at two in the morning for to go pick up after some dumb arrest.

"Also, you don't have to call me Officer Jake, you know." He shrugged. "I can just be Jake."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-07 12:55 pm (UTC)(link)
"All right," Jake acquiesced, nodding. "I was just making sure you weren't using it like as Mister Jake or Sir Jake or something because please don't. That's either for my superiors down at the station or my teachers and I'm neither of those and you're not my subordinate so we can keep this casual and easy."

He knew that it wouldn't always be like this. She'd get into some trouble, they'd fight, they'd go days without talking but Jake hoped they'd be able to get through those instances. He just had to remind myself that this wasn't like with his father and he didn't have to just ignore him for weeks on end.

"So yeah, be respectful of people who are in charge but make an exception for me. Don't make me feel old."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-07 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"To a point," Jake amended quickly. "To a point. Please don't go wrecking my apartment or ignoring me when I'm trying to help you or something like that. You know what I mean, I know you do. So, you're allowed to be disrespectful to a degree but not if it wrecks my apartment, my things, or makes me a laughingstock at the station."

Sounded like pretty simple rules, didn't they? Jake thought so. "And no judging any of the blokes I might bring home. I'm still gonna run background checks on anyone you bring here though. Fact of life. Just accept it now and we'll be all the happier."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-07 08:53 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'm going to send you back to the children's home," Jake mock threatened. "You'll go back to having some kind of roommate who you might like or you might hate and you'll have some kind of curfew and no real freedom. So, you better be nice to me."

He eyed her oh so seriously and nodded just to punctuate the seriousness of his threat (which was not serious at all). "And never imply that I'm someone's dad, bloody hell. I think my stomach just turned."
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[personal profile] gayest_crew 2017-12-07 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"That -- "

Jake fell silent for a moment, a small, wistful smile on his face. He looked up at her, the smiled growing larger and more lopsided.

"Yeah, that works. I can work with big brother. And Officer Jake. Just not Mr. Vickers or Officer Vickers or sir or something. That's all for old people. I'm cool with the big brother thing. That's good."