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And then they were dumped back into the circus. Not another word, not another explanation, nothing. Caine dumped them off and disappeared, likely to avoid any further interrogation.
For a moment there was a strange calm that washed over Ragatha. That feeling that came when the yelling stopped and even though she knew she was still in trouble, she was cut loose on her own. She recognized that feeling well and knew it wouldn’t last, but it gave her a moment of silent observation.
Then things started happening and people started moving.
She looked over at Pomni to see her striding towards Kinger. She grabbed his hand and began to drag him away, heading somewhere. To his fort? To where it was dark?
She heard a pained sob and looked over to see Gangle weeping into her hands. Zooble looked shell-shocked, hopeless, but pulled Gangle in and hugged her close.
She then heard the furious footsteps and looked back to see Jax storming away, and she would’ve left it at that if she didn’t see how he was grabbing his head and charging off.
Something was wrong.
No, that was an understatement. What she had witnessed Jax doing in Caine’s office was nothing less than a total meltdown. A complete freakout, thrashing and writhing in his own body.
She should’ve been mad at him for sabotaging their only way out, if it HAD been a way out, but he wasn’t okay, and he really shouldn’t be alone.
“Hey, Pomni…” she began to call. Only to look and see that she was long gone.
She looked to Zooble next, but they looked back with that still pained look, holding Gangle. They had to be there for Gangle.
There was nobody else. Nobody who could go after him… except her.
And he HATED her. Oh boy, she knew that. But… maybe she could still help. She really didn’t want him to take his feelings out on her, but he really couldn’t be alone. Not after he avoided beach day and award night and cheese wheel time- he’d practically made himself a recluse.
That wasn’t a good sign. That was just like…
Forget her feelings, she was going after him. Ragatha turned and began to jog after him, hoping to catch up but seeing no sight of him. He had sped off, but surely he was heading to his room. So, that’s where she went, and it didn’t take her long before she arrived in the hallway.
She approached Jax’s door preparing to knock when she realized that it was cracked open.
A chill washed over her. Jax didn’t leave his door open.
She pushed it open.
“Jax…?”
The room was dark, but she could see Jax standing off in the middle of the room. He was hunched over, grabbing at his head and breathing heavily. She could see his back heaving and his fingers clawing up the back of his own head and catching on his ears. She started to say something, and he interrupted with a low groan that turned into a whine.
Ragatha was shocked to see him in such a state. Her face softened as she stepped cautiously over the threshold.
“Hey, Jax. I-I know I’m probably overstepping, but-.”
Jax’s head whipped around.
His eyes were a kaleidoscope of colors. Pink, yellow, blue and green all flashing and swirling through his eyes. His mouth slack and his gaze vacant.
Ragatha hadn’t seen anything like it, but she recognized those eyes. She had seen them climbing up Kaufmo’s body, speckling Ribbit’s like glowing polka-dots, breaking up the writhing mass of inky black that had formed from their bodies.
It was Abstraction.
Jax was Abstracting.
And Ragatha’s response was prompt-
She let out a bloodcurdling scream, one loud enough that the displaced Jax even jumped at it, ran at him, and slapped him across the face. With the full swing of her arm, knocking his head aside with the blow.
Somehow it knocked the color right out of his eyes and knocked him right back to his senses.
“Oww!” His hand jumped to his cheek, rubbing the stinging skin. “What the-omph!”
Ragatha grabbed him by the shoulders and began to frantically shake him.
“STOP IT!” she continued to scream. “DON’T DO IT!”
“What the-?!”
“DON’T DO IT! PLEASE! PLEASE!”
“God, Raggs, STOP! I’m fine, okay?!”
Jax managed to grab ahold of Ragatha’s shoulders and pushed her back at arm’s length.
Now she was the one panting and shaking. It took her a second to process the fact that Jax was not currently a mass of black and glowing spots and instead just looked very confused and a touch annoyed, like she just barged in and… started shaking him for no reason.
Did he not know? He had to know. How could he not?
“Y-You were abstracting…” Ragatha said weakly.
He furrowed his brows in offense before waving it off.
“Pssh, no I wasn’t. I was just freaking out a little. You saw what happened back there! Geez, can’t a guy get a minute alone to process the fact that we’re all trapped in HELL?!”
Jax got a wild look as his voice rose into an impromptu scream. Only for both to deflate as he got a pensive look.
“Huh. So, sometimes we CAN say *beep*?... Okay, now see, what the *honk*?”
“Jax, I saw you. I-I saw your eyes. Your eyes were like-.” Ragatha raised her hands, trying to explain it but at a loss for words. “You were Abstracting.”
Jax looked to the side then shook his head and turned away.
“Well, I’m not now.” He sat down on the side of his bed and put his head in his hands. Ears drooping over the top of them “Get outta here. I’m fine. Let me suffer in peace.”
Ragatha stood there unsurely for a moment before turning away as well to head to the door.
But she didn’t get anywhere. She found herself frozen in place once she was staring at the open door and the brightly lit hallway outside. It would be so easy to walk out…
…But Jax wasn’t going to last the night. She knew what she saw.
Too many times she had spotted someone acting odd and failed to act. Or barely acted. Asking someone if they were okay and if they wanted to hang out didn’t stop them from abstracting. They would just curl up into themselves and assure her that they were fine. They’d be fine. And then they’d be gone.
Some weren’t even fine enough to give her that much. Some, like Kaufmo, became so unpleasant that she wouldn’t even try that hard. Just get the go-ahead to leave and bail.
In every case they would slip away.
And yet never had she ever seen the colors in their eyes like she saw on Jax.
Her lip quivered. He was already gone, wasn’t he? He was dying, already dead, and though they had never been good friends- again, he hated her- it hurt to even think about. He had become such a staple in her life and she did- she did care about him. He drove her insane, but she DID care about him. The idea of him being gone…
She didn’t want to lose him too. Not now. Not like this. Not because of something like this. There had to be a way, something she could do. Something? Anything?
Nothing?
Nothing.
Jax eyes were now staring a hole into her back, head cocked and him trying to figure out why she turned away and then didn’t go.
“Look, Raggs, I know that sounded like a ‘Leave me alone’, but that was actually a ‘Get out’,” he said flatly. She didn’t react. “Hey, are you even listening to me?”
“Uh-huh. Uh…” Her voice was wobbly.
She looked back at him, and he was alarmed to see glassy tears brimming in her eye.
“C-… Can I stay? Please?” she asked quietly
Oh no. She was crying.
Jax was used to Gangle crying her non-stop crocodile tears and helpless wailing, but it was really disarming to see the happy-go-lucky one, the bossy one, ol’ Yarn Head herself getting weepy.
That was more than a break in character, that was downright pitiful. He didn’t even know she could cry real tears too.
He broke his deer-in-headlights look by quickly putting on a mask of indifference and looking towards the corner.
“…Whatever. Fine.”
Ragatha stepped over and sat down on the bed beside him. He side-eyed her but then looked away rather quickly. Her whole demeanor was so restrained right now, so meek.
Did she really think he was abstracting? That wasn’t abstracting. That was just-…
Then what the hell was that?
And why was it so easy to give into it?
A sick feeling crawled up into his belly. Coiled itself around his stomach and clenched hard. Was that what Abstraction felt like? It didn’t feel that bad. He could’ve slipped so easily. Scary thought.
…
Maybe not a bad thought. They were stuck here forever anyways now. Why not just give up and give in? Join all their lovely friends down in the dark.
Ragatha suddenly turned to him and stretched out her arms. He gave her a downright befuddled look, then an offended one.
“I don’t need a hug,” he said flatly.
“I do,” Ragatha admitted. “Please?”
She gave him a pleading look. She really did think he was on his way out, didn’t she? Suddenly wanting to get all cozy because she felt bad for him. Ragatha was hard to read.
…But this seemed pretty genuine. Ragatha wasn’t exactly eager to humiliate herself in front of him, and while she pulled herself together enough to stop crying that didn’t mean she was acting normal.
Jax took a deep breath and rolled his eyes, and then offered up an arm like it was the hardest thing he ever had to do. And normally Ragatha might’ve given up.
But she didn’t. She hugged onto him tighter than he could’ve imagined. Her arms wrapping around him, one hand on the back of his head to hold him tight, with her head tucked over his shoulder.
Jax’s eyes went wide for a second. Then he blew a piece of her yarn out of his face.
A second passed. Two.
Then he sighed and ‘begrudgingly’ patted her on the back. She squeezed him a little tighter. It wasn’t painful, just warm. So warm and soft. Like hugging his quilt.
He couldn’t remember the last time he had been hugged… Wait, no. He could. Pomni. Pomni hugged him and he pretty much shoved her off.
Just shoving everyone away. The one thing he was good at.
He cautiously wrapped his second arm fully around her and now he was hugging her back. He almost expected her to jump away- people always pulled back when he reached out. So, he stopped reaching.
Instead, she began to gently pet the back of his head. Her finger and mitt gently petting over where he had clawed at his own skin.
He bit his tongue to hold back from grinding his teeth in contentment. He was far from content, he was quite literally on the brink of a complete meltdown, and the swinging from that into something so mushy was breaking him down.
He probably should’ve shoved her off too, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to.
He didn’t want to go.
He choked back a sob that tried to force its way out. He hoped she didn’t hear it.
“Oh Jax…”
But of course she did.
He pulled legs up to his chest and closed his eyes tight, ignoring the stray tears that spilled down his cheeks. He didn’t notice when he started being the one who was holding on tighter.
Ragatha noticed but she didn’t dare speak a word of complaint. Instead continuing petting his head and patting his back.
Briefly wondering what would happen to her if he abstracted in her arms…
…No, he wouldn’t. As long as she could hold onto him, he’d stay. She just had a feeling about it, even if it was a silly, hopeless one. Better than thinking about herself.
They sat there for a while. Neither was sure how long. Time seemed to stop in the circus, especially in this dark bedroom. Ragatha had never seen Jax’s bedroom before and looking around it didn’t seem to match him at all.
Caine usually chose certain theming. Her own room was sort of dollhouse nursery themed, going with how she was a doll. Jax’s room looked equally like something more fitting for a toddler, with rainbows on the walls and a cutesy quilted bed. It didn’t fit Jax OR rabbit themed-
…Hey, wait a second! How many times had he cracked jokes about her bedroom looking like a daycare again?! She was definitely bringing this up the next time he did.
If there was a next time. She really hoped there was.
She started humming a little, unsurely, uncertain if he would recoil from it. He didn’t. Not for a little while longer.
Then he gathered a hunk of her yarn and wiped his eyes with it. She gave a small, almost unnoticeable ‘huh’, almost thoughtfully. He gave her a pat on the back. A ‘don’t’ worry about it’ and am ‘okay, I’m done’ rolled into one. She got the message and pulled back as well.
Then they were just sitting there on the bed again. Partially turned towards each other but not looking directly at one another.
Both looked exhausted with tired lines under both of their eyes. The silence was growing more suffocating with every passing moment, but neither seemed up to breaking it.
Jax eventually did, and his voice was so quiet and sullen that it was almost unrecognizable.
“Why does abstraction scare you so much?”
“What?” Ragatha looked at him. He didn’t look back.
“I mean, wouldn’t it… be better than…?” He waved an arm out. “This?”
“I don’t think so. Imagine being down in the cellar, stuck in the dark and cold…” Ragatha said unsurely.
“Maybe it’s not dark to them,” Jax mumbled.
There were dozens of alarm bells going off in Ragatha’s head. Part of her had desperately hoped that after he had calmed down the whole Abstraction thing would vanish. That all he needed was a nice long hug and suddenly he would be as good as new.
Too good to be true.
She considered her words carefully. The initial reaction was to brush it off, change the subject, assure him that it was all over and that he’d be fine now, but that wouldn’t work. Brushing it under the rug would only leave it there to crawl back up.
So, what should she do?
…What would Kinger do? He was so much better at listening and comforting, even if it was only while he was in dim lighting. If he was here he’d probably whip up some perfect explanation to have everything make complete sense… but… only after he listened.
She didn’t want to hear it, but she knew she had to listen.
“…What was it like?” she quietly asked.
“Like that time I dropped acid and had a really bad trip.”
Her mouth dropped open a little.
“You’ve taken acid?”
“A few times. Not much.” Jax glanced at her. “I can already see you judging me.”
“I’m not judging!” Ragatha said. Her hands going up defensively before resting one on his back again. “I just… I’ve never really been around drugs. I have zero experience. It’s like if you would’ve told me you smoked crack.”
Jax got a genuine smile at that. A little wrinkling of amusement in his brow. “Believe me, Dollface, if I was a crackhead you’d know it.”
She smiled a little too.
She also noticed that he hadn’t pushed her off.
But after a moment, his grin faltered. “But yeah… it felt a lot like that. Y’know, this whole body… sort of weird feeling in your head. You’re totally out of it and yet it’s like you’re taking in the universe. Colors and buzzzz. You’re above it all. I’d call it a religious experience if I believed in God.”
He stared at the corner of his room with a distant look. His lidded eyes unblinking as he stared transfixed at nothing.
“If that was Abstraction… it wasn’t so bad.”
Ragatha was gripped by instant panic.
Change the subject, change the subject, change the subject-
There were pictures on his wall. They looked like polaroid snapshots. Those. Bring up those.
“What are those pictures?” Ragatha asked.
Jax dragged his head up to look back at them. He stared at them for a second as well. Ragatha thought he was so out of it that it took him that long to process it and was stewing with growing worry, but Jax was simply toying with the idea of whether he wanted to show her or not.
Eh, whatever. He finally reached out and flipped one over. Not all of them, but one, the picture from earlier. The snapshot of him, Ribbit, and Kaufmo.
“Oh…” Ragatha said softly. Her sad little frown returning.
Oh. He kept pictures of them. She had no idea…
“I miss them,” Jax confessed lowly. “Even Kaufmo. Even with how he got.”
“I do too. But I can’t imagine how much you do. You were so close.”
His eyes flicked away as he planted the picture back on the wall.
“Used to be.”
She knew what he was alluding to. What she had said. She had apologized, but she had never truly explained herself, what she meant.
“Jax, you know when I said that- I didn’t mean Ribbit and Kaufmo. I wasn’t even thinking about them. I just meant that I- that I thought you were- you know.”
“Just say it.”
“You push everyone away. Everyone being… me. I meant me.”
She fiddled her fingers, preparing for him to get mad but instead he seemed to relax his shoulders a little. The sharper look that he momentarily got melting back into tiredness.
“But I haven’t exactly been the best person to be around. I know you get annoyed with me always trying to micromanage and honestly sometimes I… I get annoyed with me too. I don’t know why I’m like this,” Ragatha admitted with a defeated shrug. “Honestly… I don’t blame you for not wanting to hang out with me…”
She looked down into her lap. He turned towards her slowly and gave her a confused look that she didn’t see. A suspicious one too, wondering what exactly she was angling at here.
Ragatha wasn’t exactly the self-defeatist type.
Then again, she wasn’t exactly the cheerful type either, was she?
He kind of missed her hand on his back. She let go when he turned towards the pictures. He sort of missed that feeling. He sort of wanted it back.
He sighed. Whatever, he was probably on his way out anyways.
“Maybe I do push people off. Maybe it’s better that way,” he confessed.
She looked up in surprise. Her features so soft that he could barely retain eye contact.
“Nobody should be alone.”
“Even me?”
“Even me.”
What did that-
“Even you! Sorry.”
Well, that answered one question. In the clumsiest way possible.
He cracked a smile and forced his usual tone, “Well, it looks like we’ll be together a whole lot longer! Ain’t that swell?” He swung his arm in a phony little cheer.
She managed a smile. “Heh, yeah.”
His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What?”
“What?”
“No, that. What?”
She shrunk a little under that look. She was hoping to skirt by it, but no, he noticed. And she didn’t want him thinking- she couldn’t afford to have him assume the worst. Not when she had just cleared up a huge misunderstanding that she let fester.
“Can I… Can I tell you something? I- I know you can’t think less of me, so I don’t think you’d be as upset when I say something so stupid.”
“You didn’t buy it either?” Jax asked. He propped his head on his hand, cocking it questioningly.
She had seemed a little unsure, he could’ve bought that she had doubts.
But she shook her head.
“No, I did. I totally believed him. But… There… There was a moment when we were geared up to leave when I thought about going home and then we didn’t and I… feel a little relieved? But not really relieved, it's just this... feeling."
Jax’s brows raised.
“Not because it’s great here, but because I… I don’t really… I want to leave the circus, don’t get me wrong, but-!... I don’t want to go home.”
She knew she could’ve left it there, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“I think I know why the circus made me into a doll…” she said softly. “That’s all I was in real life too. Everything was for show. The clothes, the house, the mindless, empty chitchat about things that don’t even matter. It’s always just putting on a show. Be the perfect daughter, the perfect worker, the perfect socialite. The house isn’t small, it’s ‘cozy’. My mom’s ‘overbearing’ she’s not… horrible…” She inhaled deeply. “It was like I never left that big dollhouse I came out of.”
His features softened but she still couldn’t look at him. She didn’t want to see the look she imagined.
“In a way, even though I’m a literal doll here, I feel like more of a person. I’m actually trapped here and-and yet I still feel more trapped there…” She gave a tired sigh and rubbed over her face. “I feel terrible saying that. It’s like I jinxed the whole thing. I don’t know what’s wrong with me...”
Same thing that was wrong with Jax, he guessed.
“I don’t have nothing to go back to either,” he admitted.
“You don’t?”
“Tch, no. But you could’ve probably guessed that.”
“Actually, I was under the impression that you probably had a bunch of friends.”
Jax looked at her in disbelief.
“Hey, you’re pretty confident! That’s the one thing you’ve got going for you. People flock to people like that.”
He got a little smirk. “The ONE thing.”
“You know what I mean.”
“They don’t get me. Cramped my style. Couldn’t respect my lifelong dream to become a furry’s wet dream.”
Ragatha managed something like a laugh. Strained but honest, like she wanted to laugh but was just so tired that she couldn’t. Not fake, just pressured.
Jax wouldn’t normally notice the difference. Then again, he would’ve normally tuned out a character’s sad backstory. Pretending it wasn’t real life, because nothing was real in the circus. But Ragatha earned that attention, if just because of how honest it was.
No, not honest. Familiar. Funny, he considered Ragatha his opposite and yet here they were. Like minds and all that.
He wondered if-
Was it even worth asking her?
…
“Bet it gets awful lonely in a big house like that…” he mumbled.
“Hmm?” That statement seemed leading, Ragatha noticed. “It did,” she said, questioningly.
“Did you-?” Jax started, then got a look like he was chastising himself for even asking it. A dry laugh, a pause, and then he went for it. Looking at her with a rather empty smile. “Did you ever do something about it?”
“Like… leave?”
“Like hurt yourself?”
Ragatha was utterly blindsided by the question. It immediately made her feel small and guilty. She wanted to deny it and leave it there, but… Jax wasn’t asking for no reason.
He must’ve seen right through her. A guess like that didn’t come from nowhere. He probably already knew the answer.
She really, really hoped he wouldn’t make fun of her.
“…Once. Only once,” she confessed.
He straightened attentively. “What didja do?”
“I… I took a bunch of pills. They made me sick, I threw them back up, nothing happened. Nobody knew,” Ragatha rushed out. Like it was nothing.
But it was nothing, because nobody found out. She had felt so embarrassed and guilty afterwards that she never dared to talk about it again. It was another secret shame she carried.
Jax’s smile faltered entirely. He seemed a little startled.
“That wasn’t just hurting yourself,” he said lowly.
“…No.”
There was a pause.
Jax dropped his head into his hand with a dry half-laugh. “Heh.”
She looked at him; it certainly wasn’t funny. “What?”
“Didn’t think we’d have something in common.”
“…What…?”
“Wasn’t pills though.” Jax rubbed his hand around his neck, grabbing at it. “Didn’t work either.”
Ragatha gasped and he cringed.
“Oh Jax…!”
“I didn’t say that to have you feel bad about me,” he quickly interjected.
“I don’t-! Okay, I’m sorry. I just… I’m sorry,” she said honestly.
Jax hummed.
“Do you want to talk about it…?”
“No. It was a long time ago. I was probably high and I was living in a really *squeaky* apartment. It was either that or go to work, y’know,” Jax half-heartedly joked.
“I think I do…”
“Y’know, you’re just trying to get out of a bad situation the only way ya know how…”
“Right…”
“… So, how’s Abstraction any different?” Jax asked distantly.
Ragatha’s heart sunk once again.
“It’s not… Which is why it might seem like a good idea, like a way out, but it really isn’t. It’s just getting rid of more options. Taking away all we have left!” she said. Her tentative beginning leading into a passionate plea. “We have to keep going, even if we’re stuck here forever.”
“What’s the point?”
“The same point we had when we kept going last time. Because that’s just what we have to do. That’s life, and there’s always a chance it’s going to get better.”
Jax gave her an unconvinced look. Life didn’t get much better for him.
It didn’t get much better for her either, but…
She rested her hand on his that rested on his knee. She gave it a small squeeze.
“Can you just promise me, please, that you’ll stay a little longer?” she asked softly.
His brows knit in confusion.
“I know it seems like you can’t stop it, but you can. I believe you can! And I want you to stay.” She took a shaky breath. “I can’t promise that it’ll be great, but I’ll do whatever I can to help make it better,” she promised.
He stared at her for a long moment. Eyes slightly squinted as though he was trying to get a read on her, or figure something out for himself.
Then he pulled his hand away from her, and she felt that fear creep back up. That all-consuming panic that she was about to lose him coming right back.
But then he did something she didn’t expect.
He grabbed at the bottom of his glove and began to pull, still watching her as he did so. The material of his glove stretched like rubber but was still connected tightly with his skin.
Until- SNAP! -the glove suddenly clipped through and snapped off like it was nothing.
Ragatha was understandably surprised. Her mouth a small ‘o’ as she pointed dumbly at his now bare hand. “I didn’t know we could do that-!”
Cut off when Jax suddenly reached out and took her hand in his.
He just wanted to see how it felt, and somehow, it felt different. It felt direct, a low tingle across his skin, warm and welcoming. It was a real touch, no longer numbed by the glove.
It wasn’t a cacophony of colors flashing before his eyes and rolling through his body in waves. But, but it was pleasant, and much needed.
If abstraction was the loss of control, this was something grounding. He felt more settled like this.
He watched Ragatha’s reaction and it failed to disappoint. She was staring at their conjoined hands with a wide pupil and an even smaller ‘o’. He grinned a little; apparently the whole thing wasn’t lost on her. Good. It’d be weird if he was the only one having a moment here.
But eventually the shock faded and she got a little smile as well. She tried to lace their fingers together. Not so easy with the partial mitt hand but she at least got her finger and thumb wrapped around his.
Huh. Got herself wrapped around his finger.
And then, she very gently lifted his hand and brought it to her cheek. Almost lovingly pressing into the back of it. Her eye slipping closed as she did so.
That was way more intimate than Jax signed up for. His heart tripled its rate just to catch up. Good thing she couldn’t see the color his face had turned.
There came the buzz. A different buzz, but a buzz. One that burrowed right under his skin and left him feeling vulnerable.
This was all so incredibly sweet, it burned his teeth. It wasn’t bad, far from it, but it felt like he was doing something wrong. Like he was setting himself up for a fall.
He should’ve pulled away.
He rubbed his thumb over her cheek.
She gave a satisfied little hum.
God *honk* it.
Hell.
He was in hell.
And he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Hey.”
Her eye lulled open before she suddenly realized what she was doing. She froze up, blinking in surprise, and waited with bated breath for his reaction.
He exhaled exhaustedly.
“I’ll try.”
He saw the moment the words sunk in for her. She was like an open book, he saw the surprise and then the relieved smile, the lightest gloss of tears- not those again. That’s what got him in trouble in the first place. This silly doll and her bleeding heart.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Yeah, yeah.”
He moved his hand around the back of her head and pulled her into his shoulder. He couldn’t stand another second of sappiness; he’d rather the hugging than the tears.
She was fine with this. She wrapped him up in a big hug that fit a living plush toy, holding onto him like she would never let him go. And knowing that he gave her permission and still had yet to push her off, she’d probably be all handsy with him now.
He could’ve put a swift stop to it but he didn’t. He didn’t mind it.
He might’ve even liked it.
“What about you?” Jax mumbled.
“Hmm?”
“Are you sticking around?”
“Oh! Y-Yeah. That’s the plan,” Ragatha promises with an wrinkled, embarrassed smile.
“Good.”
She patted his back.
He squeezed tighter.
They felt better.
…
…
But…
Jax’s eyes slid to the corner. There was nothing there.
But it was always there. Even if she couldn’t see it.
Waiting for the second he let his guard down.
“I don’t want to stay here anymore,” Jax said lowly.
“What?” Ragatha almost squeaked.
“Let’s get out of here,” he clarified. His voice regaining more of its usual luster.
“Oh! Right! Sure,” Ragatha quickly agreed. She unwrapped herself from him. “We could go look for Pomni. I think she was planning something with Kinger.”
“Eh, if I have to. But if one person brings up me slamming the button and I’m dropping acid.”
Ragatha looked startled momentarily, but then her better judgement came back and she instead got an unamused look. He gave her a lazy smile and a wink.
He got a smile out of her. Score.
“What was that about not being a drug addict?” Ragatha asked as she got up, offering her hand.
“Crackhead. I’m tellin’ ya, Doll. You’d know the difference,” Jax said. He somehow ‘snapped’ his glove back on before springing up and snatching back her hand. “Tell me you’re sheltered without telling me you’re sheltered.”
“Where did you think Zooble gets their stupid sauce stash from?” Ragatha challenged coyly.
“That doesn’t count! There’s no chance of eating someone’s face off on that stuff.”
He yanked open the barely closed door and light streamed into the room. It was almost blinding, especially with the garish colors of the hallway. It could’ve given anyone an instant headache.
This was what he was going to be walking into every day for the rest of his life. That was enough to make a guy start reconsidering his promises.
But he let himself get led out by the hand. Out of that room, knowing that he would end up in there again eventually.
But for now… He’d stay a little longer.