alchemyfreak | IC CONTACT;

[ The sound of the Mustang and the telltale loud pop of the door could be heard as heavy footfalls made their way up the steps to the flat Ed had been so kind as to offer as his. A message sent to Ed, somehow he figured Ed wasn't at the ball. He was still in the suit Ed had transmuted as he moved fast up the steps with... a sledge hammer. ]

Dude, I need you, come to the room. I let myself in.

[ Soundproofing had been wise, because the second he was in the flat and had flipped on the light he moved to the wall of the second bedroom, dropping the hammer and tugging his jacket off, but leaving the shirt on just rolling the sleeves up as he hefted the hammer back up and slammed it hard into the dry wall. He was going to have a cave and the work needed done and he felt the old fire burning again. Fuck meditation, he wanted to break something. ]

[He doesn't waste time replying to the message, instead heading straight over to see what Jason needed. The sight of Jason in a suit still... with a sledge hammer was certainly an interesting one but as he slammed through the wall Ed became distinctly aware of what the use of it was.]

I don't know, looks like you're handling things pretty well yourself.

[This is said almost cautiously, waiting to figure out what Jason needed but assuming it had something to do with fixing things up now that he was smashing them down.]

[ Jason should have taken the suit off, it didn't move like his leather and jeans, but he was used it the way the faberic pulls. He's fought in suits before and swigging the hammer into the wall was no different. ]

I'm not! I'm not fucking okay, I haven't been for a long time! I'm sick of everything.

[ He spoke as he kept hitting the wall, he didn't need two bedrooms and the second one would become his cave.]

Grab a chair, I need someone to talk to.

[ He spoke the last bits in German.]

[Okay, well. That's not surprising in the least, Ed didn't think Jay was okay from pretty early on in their relationship - probably as far back as meeting Nico, if not before that. Hearing him admit it, or asking for someone to talk, to was surprising though... even if Edward wasn't going to say as much out loud.]

I meant with the wall.

[Flatly, almost as if he was confused. At the last part he glanced around before moving to do as he was told. Still watching Jay curiously as he got settled.]

If you're sure...

[If he's sure that's all he needs, at least for now. Considering the growing pile of dry wall in the room he doubted it would be. However, Jay had listened to him so he could definitely be an ear in return.]

All right, talk..

[ Ed met the child he had been, saw the horror of what happened to that boy. In more ways than one. Jason was strong because be built walls around his heart, and took his sorrow out in the form of rage at night on the streets. Tonight it was at a wall.

Hearing Ed talking felt a lot like Roy, back on the ship 'talk to me Jaybird.' he stopped a moment to take a breath looking at the mess then back to Ed as he hoisted it up and swing again.]

I'll explain that later, the wall is just cathartic right now.

[ One more swing and he let out an scream that sounded like anguish and rage all at once.]

I can't fucking keep doing this! I'm ruining a friendship i give a damn about and giving Nico bad advice which is hurting him, I'm sick of being the bad guy when I haven't killed anyone in months!

[He just nodded when Jason said he'd explain later, if Jay needed someone to talk to this was about him right now - although Ed does sort of flinch at the scream he doesn't comment on it. Hearing Jay made him pause, not sure if this is just a moment to vent or he was looking for input.]

Wait a minute-

[They spent a lot of time together, they talked about a lot of things. There were always things that neither one of them spoke of though, which meant before now Ed had heard nothing of this.]

Advice on what, what's going on..?

[Jay, Ed's gotten your advice before. He already didn't like the sound of this.]

[ He looked back at Ed his blue eyes wide and chaotic, almost closer to teal in the moment. Like green had leaked into the color.

When Ed prompted on he shifted to swing at the wall again. ]

On Loki, what else! I hate that I got pulled into this shit, that I even know what happened and is still happening! [ He growled as he swung the hammer. Finally he turned and sat the sledge hammer down and looked at Ed. ]

All those nights I was gone back on the communal floor, I was with Loki. Well, most of them, we have a fucking argument then I find out from Nico that him and Loki are apparently messing around. Nico took it as serious, and I stupidly believed him and confronted Loki. I'm the asshole here because I wanted to know if he was sleeping with a teenager! Because I assumed the worst! I had a fucking right to know! This, THIS, is why I don't DO relationships!"

[Right. Ed just stared for a moment as Jason talked, having the courtesy to at least blink when he turned to look at him once more. Before he can ask what's happening though, Jay continued.]

So, you've been ... messing around with some guy. Find out that Nico and him are also-

[Messing around. Thank whatever gods may exist for Attollo apparently, because otherwise Ed would probably not be in the same position to even handle this conversation. Thankfully, none of this is outside of his grasp at this point, but like Jay it wouldn't occur to him right away that one did not equate to the other. In his experience at least, they always had.]

If Nico made it sound like that, how would you know any different..?

[How is he hearing about the sex lives of his two best friends in this place at once. This was surreal. Still, he's trying to understand and one thing in particular did stick out to him.]

Okay, not judging but- why do you have a right to know?

[That's not how things worked in Attollo. Don't ask, don't tell was more along the lines of how things went down there. Any talk about it was vague and most people just assumed anyone they were getting help from was also getting help from other friends.]

[ Jason sighed and leaned against what was left of the wall. He needed this. Hearing someone say it back, kind of made him think more than just dwelling in his own head. ]

Loki can change genders, so some guy and woman, not that you asked, but I don't usually mess around with guys. This is a new thing for me. I don't give a damn about sexuality or gender but, i just had to put that out there, but yeah basically.

[ He raked a hand through his hair, actually kind of missing the shaggy hair he had days before. Letting himself sink to the floor he rested his arms on his knees.]

Apparently, they didn't, it was just foreplay but Nico seemed to think it was more. So he asked me advice. I didn't tell him much of anything about me and Loki cause, it wasn't my place. I went to Loki to ask him.

[ He tipped his head looking at Ed funny.]

Why wouldn't I want to know? People have a right to know who their bed-mates are sleeping with. Polyamory or not, there is shit you can catch that can kill you if your not careful. I'm not looking to die again. So I like to know. Not saying Nico or Loki have anything, their gods but fuck. Why wouldn't it matter?

[ He rested his hand in his hair looking at Ed as the dry wall clung to his suit pants. Curious, what would make Ed think that's okay? ]

Edited 2018-01-04 17:32 (UTC)

You said 'he'.

[That's all Ed really got out of it, but all of that was way out of his concept anyway. He'd met shapeshifters and all sorts of different characters so it wasn't a shocking concept. Just not one his brain went further into detail with than 'you said he, I assumed guy.' He doesn't really care about your preferences, Jason. This is such a weird conversation.]

You couldn't have known that, though. Not if Nico made it sound that way, you weren't exactly in the room-

[Why. No.]

I thought you meant about Loki and Nico, specifically...

[Since it sounded like he was more upset Loki had slept with a teenager than someone else in general. ]

Let me get this straight. You tell anyone you sleep with about everyone else you sleep with? That really wasn't a concern where I was before, but- isn't that why condoms exist...?

[WHY ARE THEY HAVING THIS CONVERSATION.]

I should probably just say Loki, cause Loki is Loki, they're a god. They can be whatever the hell they want to be.

[ His mind drifted to the shower, he had been so lucky. He had a god...well goddess at the time treat him like he was something holy, and he ruined it. Like he ruins everything. Then he realizes Ed's speaking, and saying what he needs to hear as he strenches one of his leg out, and looked to Ed.]

I don't even know what i'm mad about, I'm just pissed about all of it. Nico's a kid, I knew he would get hurt, but he had already done whatever before he told me.

[ He made a face... shit Ed was right.]

Not...everyone... but I dont know, Nico's 16 or 17....fuck me, your right Ed. I shouldn't have done shit.

[ Both hands went into his hair as he pulled. His eyes widening as if trying to kick start his mind to process that before he tipped his head and let his hands drop.]

Dude, no, Condom's help but they wont save you from AIDS and HIV, not completely. Shit, old world. STD's get real bad by my time. After a musician got aids it became public and everyone realized it was a big deal.

[Times Ed is lucky he's not a mind reader.]

You can't hold yourself responsible for someone else's actions, and if there's anything I've learned about gods it's that well meaning or not they don't operate like us. Nico's from a world where he deals with them directly, the choices he made are on him.

[There wasn't much he could say to that, the last thing on Ed's mind at that age was sex, it was hardly a factor for him. Still, he'd been treated as an adult for many purposes since he was twelve so he'd never been very good at viewing someone Nico's age as a kid.]

There were... Protections in place in Attollo-

[Old world, it always struck him as kind of amusing the way Jason focused on that - but it was true, even with his other experiences. Ed's concept of modern was nowhere near Jay's, still he's not talking about Germany or Amestris here. Anyway, they're talking about Jason's sex life, not Ed's so back to the topic at hand, here.]

So, you're trying to help Nico by giving him advice which messed up what you had going on with Loki....

[At least, that's what he thought he was following.]

[ He was so lucky. Considering the number of times he's thought about killing his friends when they annoyed him even the slightest. He'd not do it unless he had a good reason but he's thought about it. Just a side effect of the Pit. ]

I can't but I feel like if i had said something Nico wouldn't be in this situation. Hell I might not be either. And yeah, I tried to tell Niks that, I mean he should know he's part god, but hes also hurting so that's happening. He's gotta live with it, and I shouldn't care but he's my friend and I hate seeing my friends hurt. Namely after losing one for the most part.

[ Loki had told him to stop avoiding him, and he should have taken it as an olive branch but he hadn't yet, even if he mostly went to the ball to see Loki and Hana, he had gone after Nico when he saw the argument go down.]

Tell me about Attollo.

[ He asked, since he heard about Purg more and he could use the distraction.]

Yeah. Pretty much, I advised him not to be me. I fucked up bad, Ed, and I don't want him to feel more alienated than he already does.

Edited 2018-01-04 21:14 (UTC)

[Ed would take that over the visuals of Jason in a shower with Loki, thanks.]

You'd have to know about it to say anything, sounds like you're blaming yourself for not being psychic to me. Look, I'm not saying don't care, but I can tell you from experience that Nico doesn't always take well to trying to be protective of him.

[He got the desire, he was protective of his friends too, and he knew what that impulse was like. Not everyone appreciated it though, and he had to learn that here.]

If you just want someone to listen, fine. If you want advice, I'd say stay out of it. What those two do isn't your problem, even if you care about them. You getting in the middle of it is only going to cause more problems for you, in case you haven't figured that one out already.

[Judging by the tone of this conversation he is pretty sure Jason views this as one major fuck up without Ed's help.]

As for Attollo, there's not much to tell. It was an island paradise designed to make us comfortable, after Purg it would have been a vacation except for the reason we were there. When people weren't doing what they wanted fast enough one of the gods took over, things changed from there.

[He didn't like to talk about it, and that much was probably evident by his tone and the way he kept his gaze averted while explaining. Discussing it didn't come easy and straight forward like Purg, with how well Jason could read people he could probably see the tension in Ed's posture while he talked.]

[ Well, good its more of that than shower smut. ]

I have, and as much as I want to argue it your right. I can't keep being a sounding board like this. I hate lying to people unless I have to but I feel like I have to to keep the others secrets. And fuck, Loki wants me to stop avoiding him, which I'm not really doing. I'm working a [ He moved his hands shaking them with irritation.] fucking murder case, I was sick. I am moving in here and have my brother that hates me and his younger friend living with West to deal with to. I'm fucking busy.

[ he let it pour out, he usually didn't usually talk about what he's up to but he felt like it helped paint the picture more.]

...what did the god's want Ed?

Sorry.

[Whether Jason realized it or not, Ed knew he was part of that list too. If he'd never mentioned what happened with Al things would be different, but he still regretted it - even if Jason said he should have come to him sooner about it. Jason was still talking though so rather than say anything more Ed just listened. Okay, all of that was a lot. There's a moment as Ed absorbed it before responding, carefully.]

You're no one's therapist, Todd. Sounds like you have enough of your own problems to deal with. If you're not avoiding him all you can do is say as much, and whether or not he believes you is on him.

[He wanted to ask about some of that, the brother thing for one, but now didn't seem the time. He wasn't entirely sure where Jason wanted this conversation to go and he was supposed to be here to listen to him so he shifted, focusing on the question.]

In a word? Intimacy. I was taken from a place where I spent years being told I had to redeem for my sins only to show up somewhere that expected us to sin. They tracked our progress with a mark on our face that got darker the longer we went without doing anything.

[Doesn't sound so bad compared to Purg, does it?]

It's not your problem, Ed. It's mine.

[ He spoke firmly, he didn't have to read minds to have a feeling what Ed was apologizing for, and Jason was having none of that. He ran a hand in his hair again before nodding.]

Way to many problems. I'm living that Jay Z song, that you don't know so forget it said it, but it's a song. [ He waved a hand to dismiss the thought.

Jason's eyes went large as Ed explained. ]

Holy shit was it a Gorean island? [ He hated he knew those books but it sounded like it.] What happened if you didn't, well sin. Because sorry, but i would have pegged you a virgin all the way.

It's your problem that people are telling you about their problems.

[They're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.]

Nope, don't know it.

[He'd gotten pretty used to Jay brushing off references after making them so he no longer bothered to even be confused.]

I don't know what that means, but it's hard to explain. The only thing that happened was the mark got darker, that was it. The thing is while that was going on there were changes to the weather, you couldn't get warm enough unless you were with someone. Practically as soon as I arrived they tried to starve us into it. It was all pretty unpredictable, I went blind for three weeks...

[A beat before seeming to realize the last thing Jay said.]

What's that supposed to mean?!

I'm told that's what friends do. I'm just not good at it, I guess.

[ He shrugged some. When he was small he never really had friends. He didn't connect to people his age well, and when he came back it wasn't much better. Roy and Kori had been his first real friends and they were Dick's first. So he wasn't the best at it. ]

I figured. Don't worry about it.

[ Jason just stared a minute and then shook his head some.]

So basically, you'd die if you didnt get nasty with someone?

[ He asked to be sure.]

You don't act like someone whose had sex before Ed. You dont even seem to notice people like that, least not that Ive seen. And I'm a trained detective.

Friends don't just dump their problems on other people. Making my problem your problem doesn't mean it's not my problem anymore, in fact it becomes my problem that now on top of my problem I've unloaded it on you.

[Was that confusing enough? Ed's used to people that aren't used to dealing with people, Jay's actually one of the better at it. It was important that Jason got this as far as he was concerned, he had talked to Jay about Al, but Jason had come to him about this Loki and Nico thing and that meant that he also had to deal with Ed now being aware of his business. It went both ways.]

Not exactly, it's complicated. They brought us in because something was wrong, so they needed us. Killing anyone wasn't really in their best interest. Even though no amount of food helped, I didn't starve to death... I know what starving feels like from when I was a kid so I didn't give in like everyone else, if anyone was going to die there I would have then. The blizzard in August, the closer you were to someone the warmer you felt. Fire did nothing, clothes did nothing, being half metal wasn't a deal breaker either. A bunch of us got together and did research for awhile, we weren't sure if we'd die or not at this point so to help a friend I sat on her couch and held her hand. It was enough to keep us from freezing to death, that's all.

You know that igloo I made last month at the cabins? It didn't matter if we were inside or outside, three of us built an igloo together and we were just as warm as three people crammed into a room.

[So, no Jason. No 'getting nasty' required. As for the last part, well he couldn't really fault the logic. He hadn't thought about it, outside of Taiga really. Briefly when Cisco brought it up, but he didn't go around looking at people on the street or anything like that.]

I guess I don't really think about it. How am I supposed to act, exactly?

[ Jason looked at him a moment, he understood exactly what Ed meant but he just didn't expect to have someone say that to him. Raking a hand through his hair again he sighed some and nodded. He wasn't bothered by Ed knowing his business, in fact that didn't bother him at all. He trusted Ed. A lot more than he trusted most people right now. ]

Point. [ He grumbled while Ed started to explain the sex-love-boat-island-thingy. A symathetic look crossed his face at hearing Ed knew what it was like to go hungry. He listened intently, and knew if he was in Ed's place he would have done whatever it took not to feel that way. That was one of his few true fears anymore. Leftovers from his childhood. Despite not going hungry in years he had issues with it.]

Jesus Ed. [ he muttered, instead of pushing the idea that that didn't explain a lot, it pushed enough of any idea for him to get the bigger picture.] I don't even know what to say to that... beside's I get that, the hunger thing, and as Long as you live with me you aren't going to go hungry again. AS long as this world doesn't take pointers from that one.

As for why I thought you were a virgin, your more reserved and I haven't seen you even cast eyes at someone. Not a joke or comment, its just I watch people its part of what Batman trained us to do, and you breach the basics of how a person usually acts. Its not a big thing, I mean, I guess I sound sexist even saying shit like that, so forget it, yeah?

[It was less about trusting Jay with his business and more about now Jason was burdened with that business, that was part of unloading a problem on a friend, after all. On top of dealing with their own shit, they now had your shit to deal with. That wasn't how Ed liked to operate, not after years of being used to having no one but Al, but he'd learned to be more open in his years away from home.]

It wasn't a big deal, really. When we were kids our Teacher left us on an island, we learned how to hunt and fish pretty quick after that.

[As for Attollo, well...]

Being blind was probably the worst of it, I couldn't even transmute reliably so I had to take a break from work, alchemy, everything. I spent the time researching. Anyway, as long as this place doesn't take pointers from the other ones, I think we've got it covered. You know you're welcome to use the kitchen whenever.

[Yes, he did just use Jay's own words. He nodded back toward their own apartment, with their walk in fridge and freezer already stocked with plenty of food. At the last part his eyebrows rose curiously.]

Virgins don't look at people?

[Sorry Jay, not forgetting it. You opened this can of worms.]

I want to say that's fucked up, but B put me through hell my six months of training to be Robin. I didn't think I'd survive it, but I'm stubborn. At least I'm told so, I dont think so.

[ Lies, he knows he's stubborn as hell. But it did earn Ed more respect from him. He nodded before finally cracking a grin.]

You saying your hungry, Elric?

[ he asked teasing before rolling his eyes.]

Of course not. I'm kidding, I'm being an idiot about it, jeeze. But fine you want to stay on this, fine, tell me about your sex life then. That's something normal guys do. Least from my understanding.

[ He motioned a hand forward as he pushed himself up to go to his fridge with actually had a few things in it but most importantly, half a pizza and a four pack of red bull.]

You're stubborn.

[No arguing, Jay. You're stubborn. Says the Elric.]

Stubborn's how we survive.

[He blinked at the grin followed by the question, but only shrugged in response. Not that he's going to turn down food, but it was an open invitation not a request.]

Nah, I'm just saying. We've got that huge kitchen, might as well make use of it whenever you want.

[When Jason took the bait Ed was dealt more than he bargained for, head tilting curiously at Jay's words as if trying to sort that response before working out a reply.]

If neither one of us are normal and we're only doing it because it's what's normal, is it really worth it?

[As long as he's analyzing this and not thinking about it directly he's not going to get flustered. This is fine. Then another thought occurred to him.]

Do you actually want to know or are you calling my bluff?

[ Jason shrugged, facts were facts.]

It's part of being Gotham bred. And a Todd, my old man was worse.

[ A touch of bitterness in his tone, as he brought the cold pizza over and sat it on the floor with them, with two energy drinks before opening the box and motioning for Ed to have some. It was a Hawaiian pizza, he was one of those weird people that liked pineapples on pizza.]

Remember you said that when you find me baking at 3am one morning. [ he quipped before lifting a piece and taking a bite. He swallowed before replying.] It's not but it keeps eyes off of us, and I can't be Bruce and live a double life, so I just start rumors about myself.

[ He admits to Ed.]

Both, both is good. Spill it Elric.

[Action. The Loft. ]

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