he's staring at me, i'm freaking out

I was having a hard time remembering when things happen in TSC so I put it on a calendar! Turns out everything happened faster than I thought it did

Kevin gets a lot more enthusiastic about convincing Jean to leave the Ravens immediately after hearing about the deal with Ichirou, and he publicly calls out the Ravens the day after. He's perfectly willing to stand up for himself and others when he thinks it won't end in certain death for everyone

Jean has been in LA for almost two months. He trusted Jeremy enough to ask to share a room with him after knowing him for three weeks

Jeremy got his coaches to agree about Jean in only one day so I guess they weren't reluctant to sign him

Jeremy usually has to leave before dinner, but he's around during Jean's first week in LA because he got kicked out of family dinners for dyeing his hair

Jeremy isn't usually allowed to move in with Cat and Laila for the summer until June, but school ends a month earlier. He was busy with something that kept him away a lot in May, but he showed up with "the sunniest smile he’d worn in weeks" once it was over

- “They loved each other until they died, and they hated each other from the moment they met.”

- “He clung to Riko the way a weaker power clings to a stronger, needing some sort of support and stability to rebuild his broken life around, and although he feared Riko’s cruelty he didn’t understand at the time how wrong and unfair it was. It was just life, as he knew it, as he’d know it for the next many years.”

- “To say Riko & Kevin were friends seems a lie, but to say they weren’t is a worse one.”

- “Riko & Kevin were the end-all be-all of each other’s existence. It was what saved Kevin from the majority of Riko’s cruelty”

- “They needed each other, because the only thing in the world they wanted was to be the best and the only way to be the best was by plunging into life side-by-side. They were obsessed with each other’s potential because they knew what they could be together.”

- “Riko saw Kevin as a footstool, and Kevin saw Riko as a collar.”

- “Riko and Kevin got [what they wanted], whether it was private lessons or access to notes and old games ((or Lydia Shetfield, when Riko decided he and Kevin ought to lose their virginity like all the other Ravens had)).”

- “Kevin could survive two monsters only if one of them was dormant or otherwise entertained, so he bowed his head and did what he needed to do, and eventually he forgot he’d ever existed outside of Riko’s circle. He stayed close enough that his leash wouldn’t choke him and followed Riko to the top.”

The challenge was to write 500 words (I wrote more...like 530 LOL) in 1 hour! Just to get in some writing exercises so I did not tweak it too much. Still, I'm happy with how it came out, this mundane little thing.

Jane gave me the prompt: some combination of jean andrew or neil in cinema or video rental or arcade or bowling alley

-

“Thoughts on Scott Pilgrim?”

Jean glances over his shoulder and spots Andrew. He’s looking up at the small selection of films playing this month instead of at Jean. Jean frees his hand from behind the soda machine, abandoning the rag he’s using to clean the counter. It’s sticky with sugar and butter from the butter dispenser, accumulated over the week. He’s the only one that bothers cleaning anything up, though his efforts certainly go unnoticed considering how old and dilapidated the town’s cinema is. Still, if he is to suffer long days waiting for someone to find their selection interesting, he should at least do it in a clean space. Every week, Andrew finds him like this; he’s his only regular.

Jean wipes his hands on his uniform pants and almost instantly regrets it. He steps up to the counter and cranes his neck up to see what the other movies are even though they’re the same ones from the beginning of the week: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sherlock Holmes, Zootopia, Prince of Persia. It certainly is a variety.

“Have you seen it?” Jean asks. Andrew looks at him with an unimpressed expression Jean interprets as that’s a stupid question. Jean knows it doesn’t matter anyway if he’s seen it. Andrew comes in, peruses the menu of usually old movies, picks one and asks Jean his opinion on it. Sometimes they compare notes at the end, and Andrew leaves with his second order of Coke. 

Jean searches his mind to say something non-spoilery but he isn’t sure Andrew cares. Grabbing a large bag of popcorn and snapping it open, he gives his honest review. “We would all be better off if we admitted Scott Pilgrim is just an incel.”

The corner of Andrew’s mouth quirks up, which fills Jean with satisfaction. He hands him his drink and his ticket, and spends the length of the movie texting Neil about Andrew’s selection and salvaging the rag he left behind to clean other spots.

Jean knows the movie is over when he hears someone loudly take the last sips of their soda. He stands from where he’s crouched behind the counter and points the dustpan in his hand in their direction. “Obnoxious.” Andrew shakes his cup side to side, rattling the ice, and Jean comes up to pull it out of his hands. As he refills it, he asks, “How was the movie?”

“Fine.” Andrew pulls his folded ticket from his pocket and flicks it open to examine it. “Lots of action, which I love. The sloth scene did take me out.”

“Sloth,” Jean repeats, confused.

“Sloth,” Andrew confirms. He waits, then Jean rips out the ticket from Andrew’s hand. It does say Scott Pilgrim vs. The World on it. He remembers the display.

“You went to see Zootopia.” Andrew’s face shifts with amusement. Jean hates it when he switches theatres without warning. “Stop doing that. You’ll get me in trouble.”

“I’m sure.” Andrew’s voice does carry the right amount of skepticism; no one else but Andrew—and certainly not his boss—is ever here on Jean’s shifts. “Working next week?”