NO DAWN, NO DAY;;Jon&Scar;;

[jwb]

Shoulders hunched, Jon sat on the table, elbows resting on his knees, feet flat on the seat of a chair. His dull, dark gaze followed Scarlet as she moved around the deserted kitchener, smiling automatically whenever she turned her gaze on him. Otherwise he scowled, shifting every now and again, tapping his fingers against the knuckles of his other hand.

Scarlet had insisted on cooking him something, breaking into the school cafeteria between classes. He couldn't believe that they had actually managed to get in here, but apparently it was pretty much empty this late after lunch. Eventually the dinner crew would be back to start their preparations. But that wasn't what was making him edgy.

The walk from the dorms to the school had passed in relative silence. Scarlet seemed pleased that his bitterness over Drhystan had passed, and they had evaded a life and death disaster where he was concerned. They held hands as they moved through the snow, stealing into one of the more discreet kitchen entrances.

It was there that she left his side to start preparing some meal that she was still keeping a secret. Which left Jon with nothing to do but sit and sulk. Well, the sulking was optional, and soon became more of a brooding, shut-out sort of exile over on his part of the room, where he observed her in silence. He'd already filed away the happiness from before, gathering up the feeling of gratitude that he felt for her saving his life, fearful of tainting it with his current mood. His stare seemed to bore into her whenever she stood still, losing his focus, not really seeing the girl before him.

Instead he could only feel a creeping sort of numbness that preceded his usual ritual of giving up. No matter how many times Scarlet told him that they had some sort of future together, all he could see was bleakness. It was the same with watching the ocean. Everyone else marveled at the beauty, when all he could see was stretching water with fog dancing over the surface. Not something ugly, that he had to look away from; no, it drew him in with it's absolute blandness, to the point where he might simply think of other things because there was nothing to hold him there, while his eyes remained fixed. He didn't deserve what he had here at the school. He wanted certain aspects of it to remain intact, like his relationship with Scarlet, but he wasn't doing anyone any favors by pretending that everything wouldn't change the moment he graduated. So what if most students were expected to go to college, or university, it had never figured into his plans. Or lack of plans. Which meant that Scarlet's sudden appearance in his life had sent it spinning out of control. What did she expect of him? She could tell him over and over that she only wanted him to be close, and that whatever he chose to do with his life was fine, but that didn't mean that he had to believe that.

With narrowed eyes he suddenly resumed his post of watching her, mouth twisting to the side slightly in a smirk. Oh joy. If he had this little faith in their relationship, then all it told him was that for the next few months, until graduation, it would be gritted teeth as he waited for her to change her mind about him, when she inevitably decided that she wanted something different for her future.

"So, when were you expecting me this summer?" He blurted, clasping his hands together with a faint smile, half surprised himself that he was venturing this way. He blamed his last train of thought, moving so dangerously close to the topic of their summer retreat. It may never even happen, he reminded himself, satisfied with the weirdly dark undertone, pained again by the possibility.

[rhia9]

Scarlet had been preparing a little lunch for them to eat, humming loudly to herself. She glanced back at Jonathan every few moments, and he was looking through her, decidedly more broody every single time she glanced back to check if he was still there. He was way too quiet for her liking, which only meant that he was thinking. Which, evidently, meant this lunch could go one of two ways.

He could have been thinking about the summer, and all the nice things they'd do, or he'd be thinking about dumping her sorry ass right then and there as she cooked him lunch. More likely the latter. She felt the crushing weight on her chest of impending doom as she thought about what would await her when he finally spoke up to her. She sighed meekly and close her eyes, running her fingers through her hair as she left the last pot of food on the stove to boil.

When he spoke, Scarlet jumped slightly and turned around, staring at him. Summer? Right! Summer. He was coming to stay with her for a while. Her father had said anytime, really. For as long as he wanted. Scarlet smiled and wandered over, sitting on Jonathan's knee.
"My father said, 'that boy can come over anytime he wants and stay as long as he wants, as long as he puts the toilet seat down so you don't fall in,' ... literally." She mimicked her fathers voice and chuckled softly, kissing his cheek.

"Whenever you want, Jonathan. We could leave as soon as graduation is over." She shrugged and yawned a bit, looking over to the pot of water that was boiling. She hopped up off his lap and went back to the stove, pulling open the cupboard above her for some plates. She came in here a lot, so she usually knew where everything was. Unless they changed things around, which they only did every three months or so. It just made baking a little more difficult when she couldn't find the flour.

Once she had the plates set out, she dished out all the food onto them and handed him a fork, grinning.
"I hope you like it." She grabbed some soya sauce to put on the rice she had made. "My dad and I cook a lot at home, so you'll probably be subjected to our intenser recipes." She grinned excitedly and poked her fork into her food. "I'm so excited. My dad likes you already and he's never met you. So I hope you like him." she wiggled her fork at him with a cute little angry face, before digging into her food, finally realizing just how hungry she was.

[jwb]

Jon chuckled despite himself, wrapping his arms around Scarlet when she came to sit with him, so accustomed to having her fit just perfectly in his embrace. The way she talked about her father made him likable already, diminishing that concerning part of the whole trip, the horrifying 'meet-the-parent' aspect. If the recent stories were any indication, then Scarlet's father was immensely easy-going, someone Jon could get along with.

"Whenever you want, Jonathan. We could leave as soon as graduation is over."

He nodded slowly, relieved that her back was turned and he was free to express his panic in a frown. He had almost forgotten what it would cost to take the trip. He had some savings, but it might be worth getting a job for the second semester, to help with the flight money. And he'd probably need some when they finally arrived in Vancouver, a little spending cash. Sighing, he pasted on a relaxed smile when she returned with the food, handing him a full plate. At first he simply ate to ease his empty stomach, but soon turned his full attention to it when he discovered it was much more than he had expected. She was good.

"I'm so excited. My dad likes you already and he's never met you. So I hope you like him."

He swallowed a mouthful, turning to stare incredulously at her.
" 'Course I'll like your dad," Even if they did end up clashing, one thing he knew better than to do was to pick a fight with his girlfriend's father. "But what have you been telling him?" It was enough to push all other doubts from his mind, this concept that she somehow had something to pass along to her dad that would make him seem like a good boyfriend. He got in fights, spent an unusual amount of time being broody and generally unhelpful to Scarlet, and essentially had no future. Not to mention the whole superhuman deal.

His eyes widened, as he tilted his head, suddenly looking stern. "Does your dad know what you are? Or is that something we need to tread lightly around?" He tried to keep his voice light, mocking. They didn't talk about it much, but he knew the vague history of Scarlet and her mother, and how their relationship had been strained, without knowing if her powers had been apparent to her father.

He moved on quickly, suddenly eager to not have her dwell on those thoughts, once he realized his mistake. And speaking of secrets that they had to keep...
"You're going to have a set of rules or something, aren't you." It was amazing that when he had finally given himself to leave think about the trip, he had so many more questions, excitement building as his faith started to solidify in the whole thing actually working. He cocked a brow, grinning. "Isn't that how the whole dating angle works at home? No boys in the room with the door closed."

[rhia9]

Scarlet grinned and dug at her food, mixing it all together into a big hodgepodge of food. She was rather impressed with her work herself. Normally she half-assed her cooking. But for Jonathan, well, he deserved the best. For sure. Even if he did get jealous. She didn't whine at him about all the girls he hung about. He certainly shouldn't have been upset with her. But it was fine. It just showed that he cared enough about her to worry about that kind of stuff. She was worried about losing him as well, but the lingering fact that she wouldn't let anyone take him away from her but himself was always there to reassure her that she shouldn't get jealous, because he had eyes for her. Hopefully.

Maybe he'd find some pretty piece of ass wherever he went to school and she'd be stuck by the sidelines watching as he slowly turned his back on her. Inwardly, she wanted to frown at the pessimistic side coming out. Would Jonathan grow tired of her? There was only so much she could do to keep the sparks there. The list seemed a bit infinite, but... He could get bored of her easily, right?

Blinking as he spoke, she glanced up from her plate and blinked lazily at him, before grinning again. He was asking about her dad. She loved her dad. Even if he wasn't her real one, he still treated her like she was his precious little treasure. Putting her fork down, she grabbed her glass of water to take a sip and wash down her food, before speaking again.
"I've just been telling him the truth. He said, 'he reminds me of myself when I was his age. Which should make me uneasy, but it doesn't,' so, he likes you for you. I haven't told him any lies." She shook her head. She always did her fathers gruff voice so well.

Scarlet took another mouthful of food as he continued to speak, waiting for him to completely finish his little blurb about rules and secrets before laughing softly.
"He knows. I tell my dad everything. He's kind of like a brother to me, only more protective. And he buys my clothes and food." She laughed softly. "Man, it was so horrible getting 'the talk' from him." She shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair.

"My mom had beat him to it three years before, but he felt the need to refresh my memory." She grinned. "He's really cool with me being a demigod, though. He's all, 'say hi to your father for me!' whenever he hangs up the phone, and then I go, 'hi dad' and we hang up. It's our thing." She paused, then blushed and dug at her food. "I'm kind of lame. I just really love my dad. He's a sweetheart." She nodded slowly and poked at her food.

"As for the rules... Well, he doesn't really have any about boys in my room because I've never had boys in my room." she shrugged and stretched one of her arms up, popping the joint before lowering it again. "But I imagine it'd be the same as when he has a girl over. Don't come in when there's a tie on the door, or go for a walk if you hear thumping." She chuckled.