(no subject)

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Time: August 4, 2000
Place: Third floor corridor
Status: Private (Adam and Pepper)
Summary: Stop fighting! You're friends!


Pepper had been avoiding Adam for well over a week now. She didn't know what to say. Well, that wasn't true, she knew exactly what to say, but at the moment she was...

She was afraid. Afraid because she knew she'd made Adam really upset this time, not like when they were kids and they just wouldn't speak to each other for the day, and then they'd both cool down and act like nothing happened. He had been really angry this time, angry in a way that he had never directed at her before. Maybe he was still angry. Maybe that was why he hadn't spoken to her since her trip to the hospital.

But if anything was going to be fixed, they'd have to talk about it. Sooner or later. And Pepper knew that. She just didn't know where to start.

She was leaving her room that afternoon, going out for the evening, looking a little tidier than usual. Which wasn't really saying much, but she'd made an effort at least. She opened the door, looking back over her shoulder and giving her room a once over to make sure that she hadn't forgotten anything, switched off the light, and stepped into the corridor.

And there across the hall was Adam, letting himself into his room.

Pepper stopped short, her mouth hanging open, her eyes wide with apprehension. Her breath caught nervously in her throat for a moment, but then she forced a deep inhalation on herself and came out with... "Hey."

She bit her lip and sighed sharply through her nose, closing her eyes momentarily in dismay. Was that really the best she could come up with? Pathetic, that's what it was.

Comments

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I guess you never heard that story, huh?" Adam ran a hand through his hair. "When I was born, I was supposed to be brought here to Tadfield Manor and switched with the baby of the American Ambassador so that I'd be raised by him. But there was a mistake and I got switched with mum and dad's baby instead. So their real son got called Warlock and was raised by the Americans and the American's son is, well, Greasy Johnson, act'lly. He got adopted 'cause there was an extra baby. Anyway, it was Crowley's job to bring me here and I got to ride in his car. Apart from Aziraphale and John, I'm the only one who's been allowed." He grinned fondly. "I believe that. I think Crowley likes games."

Another thing Adam was worried about, but not telling Pepper because she might already be affected, was his influence. When he wanted something, it tended to happen regardless of his intentions. So if he wanted someone, he had a feeling that that person would like him back. But then he'd never be sure if it was really because they liked him or because he was unconsicously controlling them. It was too much to worry about for the moment.

"Sure! I'd like to see your mum again. But you'd better pick out what I should wear, unless you think she'd like this shirt with the holes in." He pointed at one pile of clothing on the floor that looked no different from the other piles. "Those are the clean ones."

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper couldn't believe she'd never heard this part of the story. It spun quite a few things out of line for her. "Wait, Greasy Johnson is actually the son of a American ambassador? I think that says a lot 'bout America," she joked at first. But she couldn't help thinking, "So you weren't s'posed to be raised here. You were s'posed to be raised by that American family. You could have end up somehwere else. And... your parents. Their real son is actually out there, and he doesn't know that he's been raised by the wrong family." She didn't know what she'd expected. At the back of her mind she guessed that she'd always thought that Adam's mum actually gave birth to him, like the Virgin Mary did to Jesus. Then again, images of Mrs. Young as the Virgin Mary made her eyes cross. But even so... "I'm glad you ended up here," she told him seriously. The thought that he could have ended up with that other family, that she might have never met him....

At Adam's smugness about the car, Pepper tried to think about what she'd seen near to or on the ground. "Wait, you mean that gorgeous ol' thing that has to be about seventy or eighty years old? That's his car? Wicked..." She wasn't about to tell him that Crowley had flirted with her a little. Somehow Pepper thought it wouldn't go over well.

Laughing, Pepper bent backward over the edge of the bed, upside down with her long hair sweeping the floor. "No, don't think she'd like that shirt. Not unless it had a big peace sign on it. Then she'd think you'd gone antique shopping and she'd be very proud." SHe flipped onto her stomach, halfway rolling onto him so she could get a better view of the heap. "All right, I know I hate folding laundry as much as the next young person, but really, how do even know they're the clean ones? What about when the piles blend?" She picked through the clothes without hesitation, trying to find something that looked just a bit presentable. "Where's the closet? Come on, where are all those shirts that you mum gives you for Christmas and all? The ones that have collars an' buttons..."

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"That's right," said Adam. "We were all three of us blond, so no one could tell which baby was whose. And it's true that mum and dad's real son is out there, but he don't know that he's got the wrong parents, and mum and dad don't know that they got the wrong son, and my real mum is dead, and Greasy's parents always wanted a kid, so I guess it all works out." He had a faint idea of what Pepper was thinking and it made him wince. No child wants to think about their parents having sex, but imagining your mum having sex with Satan...

Adam grinned. "Yup. The Bentley. It's pretty amazin'. He's real proud of it."

Leaning back slightly so that Pepper could reach farther, but not otherwise moving out of the way, he said, "I just know." But at the mention of the Christmas shirts, he started to look guilty. "Er... under the bed, maybe? If I have any here." If he did, they'd never been worn. That counted as clean, right?

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

"Guess it does work out. You're in the right place, after all. That's the most 'mportant thing." She wasn't sure if she should ask her question, but she ploughed ahead anyhow. "How do y'know that your real mum's dead?"

She laughed inwardly at the image of Adam's father and how he liked to take care of his cars oh-so-diligently. "I'll bet he is. That's the kinda car that there's a reason you'd want to take good care of it."

Pepper crawled forward a bit on the mattress, so she could pull up the covers and look under the bed. She crawled forward further since everything looked dark under there. "I think that monster that used to live on the ol' playground lives down 'ere now. Can't see a thing." Little further....

And then her legs flipped over her head as she tried to regain balance, and she fell off the bed into a crumpled pile on the floor. "I did that on purpose," she muttered, reaching one hand under the bed without daring to look again, and grabbing the first thing that came within reach. It was a box, so there had to be something in it that Adam didn't want. "This one, maybe?"

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"Yup," he agreed. "Who knows what woulda happened if I'd been raised by Satanists or somethin'. But it all worked out."

Adam gave her a Look. "How do I know anythin?" He wasn't about to tell her that his baby self saw and remembered her death. At least it had been quick...

"'s easy for him. He hasn't even bought petrol since 1967. And then it was just for the transfers." He giggled slightly.

Adam tried to grab Pepper before she toppled over, but the only handholds in reach weren't places he should be grabbing, so he just had to hope the clothes would break her fall.

Sheepishly, he took the proffered box and blew dust off the lid before opening it to find a new red striped polo shirt. He frowned. "My mum still thinks it's 1984..." But it didn't stop him from taking the shirt out, removing the tags, tugging his own ratty t-shirt off, tossing it into one of the floor piles, and pulling on the new one. "Better?"

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

"Satanists?" Pepper thought that sounded funnier to her than it should have. "Why, what would they've been like? Would they 'ave dressed you in horns and little tail all the time and worshipped you on some altar where they sacrificed pigs?"

She cast her eyes to the floor when he gave her that Look. "True 'nough," she conceded. Then she got an evil little smile on her face. "Fine then, what am I thinkin' of right now?" She'd always had the urge to ask them that when they were younger, after they'd found out what he was, but she'd never had an opportunity.

"Being a demon has perks then, I see," she mused. "But why would you buy petrol for tranfers? Like the ones for windows you meant, right?"

When he blew the dust off the box, most of it flew off the bed and right into Pepper's face. She gave a great sneeze. "Oy, thanks." She positively giggled when she saw the shirt. "Well, with how you keep these things, she may very well have bought it for you in 1984." Okay, so that wasn't true. And she did not stare as he switched shirts, she definitely did not. But she did smile at the final product and tease just a little. "You look practic'ly like a grown up person. It's all manner of impressive."

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"Not quite that bad, but you shoulda heard the nursery rhymes that Warlock's nanny came up with..."

Adam fought a smile. "I dunno if you really want me to answer that. It's not so easy anyway. Everybody thinks 'bout ten things at once and feels even more. It's more like a cloud then reading words off a page." And people found it disconcerting if not outright frightening. Often it seemed like having privacy in your thoughts was the only thing that kept anyone sane.

But he couldn't not smile then. Crowley's fancies were always amusing. "You had to fill up your tank to get the ones he wanted. They were James Bond bullet-hole-in-the-windshield lookin' ones."

Adam looked ruefully down at his red shirt. "It's amazin' what I can do when I put my mind to it," he teased. "Am I impressive enough for us to go?"

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper shot him a truly perturbed look at the mention of nursery rhymes used on an alleged Son of Satan. In the end, she decided that was a conversation best reserved for later. Like if she ever had to babysit in the near future....

She lifted her eyes to the ceiling in another tease. "Oh, I see, too many thoughts. So you just can't possibly do it. How convenient." She grabbed a red ball that was dangerously near to getting swallowed by the vast black hole that was under Adam's bed, and started to bounce it on the floor.

At the mention of James Bond bullet hole tranfers she cackled. "Proof beyond a doubt that all things even vaguely male are always ten years old at heart. Not that I wouldn't like that on the Volkswagon. Dun't you think they'd look good on a car painted with peace signs?"

She gave the final nod of approval. "Yes, quite impressive. When we get there I'll let you help out too, 'f mum's not done cookin'. You can do somethin' manly - like choppin' lettuce."

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"It's not convienience." Adam concentrated. "Look, right now you're thinkin' that you'd like it if Brian and Wensley got together and wonderin' how that'd work exactly. You're also thinkin' some sweet thoughts about Crowley and feelin' guilty about Roger. You think I look kinda silly in my shirt but didn't mind when I had it off. Also, you're hopin' your mum won't say anythin' embarrassin' at dinner and that she won't be servin' tofu again. And now you're gettin' mad at me, so I'll be quiet."

He stood and headed for the door. "Just remember, you asked. So, can we go?"

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper clamped her mouth shut right quick. Truthfully, she hadn't realize that she'd had all that in her mind at the same time, as she tended to think that her thought process was pretty simple. She definitely wouldn't have asked if she'd known that wasn't the case. "Right..." she said, and was even more upset that her voice shook on her. She dropped the ball and let it roll under the bed. Be careful what you wish for, Pippin Galadriel Moonchild.

She tried to make light of it all things conisidered. Although, he could sense how she really felt about it, so she didn't know why she was bothering. "Well, her tofu is terrible. I almost died when she tried to go vegetarian..."

Getting to her feet, she pulled her car keys from her back pocket and followed him to the door. "Yeah, let's get outa here." Before I do anything else to embarrass myself...

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

Adam reached out to give her a one-armed hug. "I only did it 'cause you asked, Pep. I really don't go 'round readin' people's minds all the time. I hafta want to do it and I don't like invadin' people's privacy like that. Don't worry, I won't do it again without your permission. Your thoughts are safe. Now let's go. I've got some lettuce needs cuttin'."

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper gave a one-shoulder shrug, dismissing his assurances. "I know you won't be doin' it again. Because you know what I'd do if you did it again. Dun't need to read my mind for it neither."

She gave him a friendly shove out of the room. "That's right now. Hurry it up, because I'm gonna want tomatoes in that salad too." She shut his door behind them, and followed Adam out.