JARGON.

For Sadie’s birthday, Juno has gotten... well, first of all, a goddamn haircut. He hopes it isn’t too jarring when he greets her at their favorite joint in Seattle, short-and-curly-haired, but he can’t lie to himself and say that he’s not hoping for something. ( A sigh of relief, maybe. )

He says hello with a clean-shaven kiss and leads her right to the table he’s reserved.

         “Happy birthday,” he says, a big smile trying desperately to break through. Poor sucker has to kiss her ( not that kissing her is, by any means, a chore ) to keep it under wraps. “Dinner or gift first? It’s your big day. You call the shots.”

i know it never really took off, but i miss this blog and the calmness of the thing. i’ve got to get into the groove - try to hang out around here a little more often. oddly enough, juno’s still one of the loudest characters in my head ( even if i haven’t made much effort to get him moving ), so... yeah. 

         “This has come up before, in  ---  another language. Without my knowledge.” ‘This one’s on my terms,’ is heavily implied.

Juno is sitting with his feet on the coffee table and Sadie’s tucked under his thighs. It’s warm, comfortable, grossly intimate. When he does speak, it’s rushed and uncut, so those closest always get the whole truth ( pretty or unpretty as it may be ).

         “I love you.” He lets it hang there for a beat. “And it’s no half-assed thing.”

Juno needed something to smile about today. It’s been a long one  ---  an unfair one, all things considered  ---  and a pack ( two, actually! ) of his favorite kind of pen brings it back around to a good place.

       “You don’t have to reassure me, Juno. I know my worth.” Most of the time, these days. There’s so many more happy days than there are bad–but that doesn’t mean he’s 100% every day. He tries. Greg really tries, and Rebecca helps him. He helps her, too. They have such a perfectly symbiotic relationship. He rubs a hand over his not-quite twin’s shoulder. “Les is very protective. Be careful with him. Though, Tom speaks highly of you.”

He looks very pleased with himself and Sadie can’t decide if she’s attracted to the smugness or just wants to slap the expression off his face. Both, she concludes, are good options and Sadie wonders how he’d feel about that.

         “We enjoy life more! We make the most of it and that goes a long way in preventing illness.”

She really hopes the ‘we’ didn’t go over his head and instead is enough to distract him from her bullshit answer.

         “I hate to be crass, but you are absolutely full of shit, Sadie Johanna Davenport.”

He takes her hands and moves them to his own belt-line to make it nigh impossible for her to continue dodging the subject.

     “– – okay, um, you really don’t – “ But Juno is already pinching his own ‘fat.’ Greg doesn’t see it the same… it does look NORMAL on Juno; he doesn’t look bloated. “We really don’t have to continue talking about this. In fact, I’d rather not.” Greg shifts uncomfortably, a clear sign that he wishes he can be near Rebecca right now. 

       “You probably won’t,” Greg responds – because he’s a fat whale, and Juno is thinner than he is, built differently. There’s a tiny part of him that’d love to drink, but he fights that part of him every day. “You don’t have to – it’s fine. You’re just feeling threatened because of our similarities. I get it. Tom says you’re a professor?”

He’s happy for the change of subject, but he knows he can’t bite. This thing has to be at least a little bit fixed. He’s not feeling threatened, either, but he’s not about to fight that.

        Yep. Joking. Greg’s smile is still bitter. “You’re funny. Well, I think you’re very handsome.” He responds–because he’s not an asshole anymore. He won’t stoop to anyone else’s level.  

       “… Thanks.” He presses his lips together tightly, brows furrowing. “I work in restaurants. I like to eat. So sue me.”

      “I do. It’s like staring in a slightly-off mirror.”

      “Okay, okay. Don’t have a cow. We look alike–and I’m REALLY uncomfortable about it.”

       “I know, Rebecca has had toilet paper on her shoe the entire night and I haven’t said anything. Worst boyfriend ever.”

There’s nothing sincere about anything that’s happening on Juno’s end. The façade is paper thin.

         “Whenever you feel like addressing the elephant in the room, you’ve got my undivided attention.”

It has been too long since Julian and Sadie have seen each other face-to-face. Skype was too difficult from the get-go: he’s three hours behind, so by the time he’s free, she’s wiped out. Her morning is his middle-of-the-night, so there’s no pre-work video chat, either.

Sadie, as always, looks as though she’s just stepped out of the cover of a magazine. She’s perfect, head to toe, and Juno is, well  ---  overgrown. Where’s the point in trimming your hair when there’s no one to touch it and tell you you look fresh and ‘handsome’?

He’s quick to realize after their ( hesitant, on her end ) airport kiss that she doesn’t like it.

To stop himself from laughing is no small feat.

         “Welcome home.”