Chapter Eight

"(y/n), wake up," You heard a voice as you were gently shaken. Your eyes opened slowly to see Jason kneeling beside you. "Are you ok? Something was wrong with the door." You paused for a moment as you let your brain remember everything that happened.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Where's Ryo?"

"He stormed off as soon as Quince opened the door. Ryo must have been banging on the door for nearly an hour. You slept through that?" Jason questioned. He was surprised at your ability to block out the noise.

"I usually wouldn't be able to, but I was just so tired," You explained. "Thank you for checking on me and waking me up," you smiled. In your mind you debated whether or not you should hug him. You really wanted to, but you were worried it would be awkward since you didn't know if he had any physical boundaries. Then again, he doesn't have much of a problem dragging me around everywhere, you contemplated.

"Of course!" He smiled. "I'm glad you're ok. I've never seen a door in this house behave so stubbornly. I almost thought Quince would have to contact the higherups." Your heart was filled with so much relief to hear Jason's rambling. Ryo was really frightening earlier. You decided to give in and press a gentle hug to Jason.

"I really appreciate everything, Jason," You said softly before pulling away. As your brain carded through your memories, you remembered a small detail. Jason asked me not to get to close to Ryo... was this why? Before you could asses Jason's reaction to your moment of affection, you asked, "Jason, was there a specific reason you wanted me to stay away from Ryo?"

"No, it was just a bad feeling," Jason started, but then his eyes hardened. "Did something happen? Did Ryo do something to you while you were trapped in here?" He gripped your shoulders.

"Relax, it wasn't anything like that," you fibbed a little. "I was just wondering. Being alone in a room with that grumpy jerk made me wonder if you had beef with him or something."

Jason tore his gaze to the ground before looking back at you, "It's really nothing personal between me and him. I just want you to stay away."

You weighed your options. After whatever the hell happened earlier, avoiding Ryo for all eternity seemed like a decent idea. But at the same time, it was an eternity. Being stuck in a house with someone you can't talk to would seriously suck.

"I understand and appreciate your concern," you started. "And in any other circumstance, I would do as you ask. But even if he is a jerk face, I really don't want to live with animosity for an eternity"

"You know an eternity isn't guaranteed, right?"

"You mentioned something like that," you admitted. "But how is that relevant?"

"I'm just asking that you don't become foolish with your existence, that's all," He pressed his palm to your shoulder. "If you're hungry, I made some pasta earlier."

You smiled. He really cares a lot. "That sounds really good right now, will you hang out with me while I eat?"

"I was planning on it," Jason said as he offered you an arm.

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Hell yeah, noodles, you thought. Jason handed you a bowl of angel hair pasta with an alfredo sauce. "Thank you so much! Do you do all the cooking?"

"Well, the higherups leave completed meals in the fridge, so I don't really have a responsibility. I just enjoy the process. So, not every meal. But as many as I feel like," he explained. You nodded, and silently ate for a few moments. I feel like I could ask Jason anything.

"Jason, when do we get to know how we died?" You asked. He stared at you for a moment before looking away.

"I still don't know how I died," He admitted. Your eyes widened in shock.

"What? How long have you been here?"

"I...don't know," he kept his eyes away from yours. "A lot longer than you. Not as long as Dianna or Quince though."

"Has Dianna been here as long as Quince?" you asked, feeling a little confused.

"No one has been here as long as Quince. I think Dianna showed up just a little before I did. Ryo and Suki showed up together," he explained. Ryo and Suki? That seems like an odd pair. "It's really not like much of this matters anyway."

You frowned, "You sound defeated."

"I'm not defeated, but I really think most of it is meaningless. Who cares how we died and when we showed up? I'm eating pasta with you, and that's pretty important to me."

You smiled. He's really earnest. "Thanks, Jason. I'm sorry if my questions were upsetting."

"Don't worry about it! You can ask anything," He smiled while grabbing your plate and leaving it in the sink. "Suki wanted to hang out, do you want to come?"

You thought for a moment. Would she be mad about yesterday? Or was she honest when she said she was joking? I guess there's only one way to find out... "Sure! That sounds fun," you nodded as you walked beside him.

The two of you arrived at her room and knocked on the door. Not even a second later, the door opened to reveal a very cute Suki, "Hi, Jason! And Hello (y/n)!!" She opened the door wider for you both to walk in. She seems just like she normally does. Is it a façade? You walked in after Jason and tried to dispel your nervousness.

"I've been thinking!" Suki announces.

"Really? Is it your first time? Let me know if you need help," Jason teased.

"I will flay you," She retaliated without missing a beat." ANYWAY, I've been thinking, we should totally have Christmas! Think about it, eternity is going to get boring as hell if we don't start coming up with some arbitrary celebrations."

"Christmas? But what if the other members don't celebrate it?" You asked.

"Who gives a shit! We all died in America and America has been commercially pushing Christmas down the throat of everyone who lives. Besides, I think after dying, your sense of religion might be a little jumbled. Pretty sure you can peg everyone here for a solid 'agnostic'"

You couldn't really argue with that logic. Even the most devout of religious people might find this experience to test faith a little. You didn't take anyone here to be particularly faith-bound, but you could ask Quince about it.

"How, though? We can't really get presents without Quince's help, plus we need a time to do it. Time doesn't really exist...?" Jason questioned.

"Pipe down, ok? I've got a plan! Hear me out," Suki demanded. "So, time does exist, its just like, a gazillion times more arbitrary than it was on Earth. The second we aren't bound by responsibilities, appointments, schedules, and everything else, time just felt fake. You still set a timer for your oven, right?" She looked to Jason who nodded at her. "We just ask Quince to set a date and tell us when it is! I think we should give ourselves just a couple of days to prepare because I am impatient!" She giggled to herself.

"But what about the presents issue?" You pushed. You were getting a little excited, but you didn't want it to be unfair to Quince.

"I think we could compile a list of what we want to get him, and then we can mail to the higherups," Suki offered.

"We can do that?" You asked, tilting your head.

"Quince will still have to deliver the letter, but he doesn't have to read it, and we can request that the higherups deliver it in a specific place where Quince wouldn't see. It would be a lot easier on Quentin if we all just wrote a list of requests that the higherups could leave in our rooms to wrap." Suki explained.

The more she talked about it, the more it seemed like a feasible plan, and a fun one at that. "Let's start decorating now! We can tell everyone as they notice!" you exclaimed.

"Where will we get decorations?" Jason asked, "And shouldn't we talk to Quince first?"

"Stop worrying so much! I already asked Quince," Suki laughed at the blue haired boy. She turned around and pulled a tote box from under her bed, "Here's some decorations we can start with. Quince wanted to wait until we had a date before getting a tree, so we don't have ornaments yet."

"Let's have Christmas tomorrow," you spoke excitedly, which caused both Jason and Suki to laugh at you.

"You're so cute!" Suki gave you a quick hug, "But I think we should wait a little so we can prepare and have Christmas." Things don't seem to be awkward at all, you smiled. I'm glad there's no tension between us.

"Maybe three days then," Jason suggested.

"I think you guys are more excited about this than me! Three days does give us time to prepare though."

"I can barely guess how long three days is anymore," you laughed. "Why do we live without time? I think we could have clocks and calendars," you asked.

"We could," Jason agreed. "From what I hear, though, living with time constantly just made dead people more upset. Something about the passing of time is disconcerting to dead people. According to most of the books I read, it's fine for a couple years, but it eventually becomes a source of anger."

"Plus, why bother? Sleep when you want, eat when you want! Our biological clocks can sync up without us knowing the hours and minutes," Suki spoke. You decided to not worry anymore and ripped off the lid of the decoration tote.

"Let's decorate!" You pulled out an assortment of wreaths.

The three of you decorated the hallways with gusto, and soon the place was starting to look pretty fucking good. At some point, Jason put on a Christmas CD. It's fun to know we have speakers, you thought. You and Jason were putting Garlands all along the walls as you both sang a little off key. This might be the most fun I've had here. You absentmindedly swung your hips while reaching into the tote. Suddenly, it was like lightning struck you.

"Jason!" you whipped around.

"Yes?" He turned to face you. You grabbed on of his hands and put your other hand on his shoulder.

"Come on let's dance!" you began laughing as his face flushed. He's cute like this. He overcame his initial surprise and confidently placed a hand on your waist. You both awkwardly bumbled around the room, you were smiling the whole time. "This is so much fun."

Jason held you a little closer, "Things have been more fun with you around," he smiled genuinely. The two of you stopped moving and just stared at each other as some celebrity sang a Christmas tune.

"Jason," you said softly as he looked at you. Jason could feel his chest fluttering as you looked into his eyes. A hazy pink fell upon both of your faces as you spoke again, "You're so fucking tall." The two of you erupted into giggles and you rested your head on his chest. Everything was calm, and everything was right.

"What the fuck is this?" Came a voice from the doorway. You tore yourself away from Jason, feeling ashamed. Your face was bright red and the Christmas music seemed to be too loud now. Ryo looked at you both condescendingly.

"I-it's Christmas," you wrung your hands together nervously. Ryo's gaze sat on you like ice. You shivered.

"Christmas?" Was Ryo's only response. You nodded quickly.

"Suki thought it would be a good idea," Jason explained as he took a step in front of you. It seemed that when Ryo fully realized Jason was there he lost interest in the whole thing.

"Just don't be too annoying," Ryo began to leave.

"Wait!" you called out, surprising everyone including yourself. "Maybe you'd like to help decorate?" You offered, gesturing towards the box. You really wanted to make friends with the blonde, but you couldn't deny how nervous it made you. The man in question narrowed his eyes at you as if you say, "Are you serious?" before looking to the tote.

"No way," He turned around and left, as he originally intended to. You sat on the couch in the room. Every time he interacted with you, you felt a little sad. You were so caught up in your emotions that you didn't notice Jason sitting next to you until he put an arm around your shoulder and squeezed you close.

"Ryo is like that, (y/n). Please don't take it to heart," He offered. His words were like cotton, soft and inviting. You wrapped your arms around him, too, and breathed for a moment. "Would you like to bake sugar cookies with me? I already made and chilled the dough, so we just have to cut them into fun shapes and cook them," Jason offered.

"That sounds good!" The two of you made your way to the kitchen to find Suki already in there decorating the walls. Don and Dianna sat at the table with mugs of something warm.

"Hi! We're going to make cookies!" You greeted and gave a subtle thumbs up to Don who responded with a lazy grin.

"(y/n), will you wait here with the others while I go check on something? I think I left a cookbook in my room that I want to put away," Jason asked. You nodded and took a seat at the table.

Jason exited the kitchen and walked along the halls. He made his way to Ryo's room and hoped that he would be there. He opened the door without knocking. Good thing it's not locked, he thought. Just as Jason hoped, Ryo was in his room.

"What are you doing in here?" Ryo sat up on his bed. Jason shut the door behind him but stood next to it.

"I don't know what's going on with you and (y/n), but you need to stop bothering her."

"I'm not bothering her nearly as much as she bothers me. Maybe you should tell her to stop being so persistent," Ryo argued.

"I've tried that," Jason sighed. "She wants to be friends with everyone here." The two stewed in silence for a moment. "I still want you to stop whatever it is that you're doing that scares her so much. The second you enter a room she gets beyond nervous! I refuse to believe that you've done nothing." Jason pointed out angrily. A lazy grin found its way onto Ryo's face.

"You mean your angel gets all nervous just for me?" Ryo spoke. He was rarely this teasing; it caught Jason off guard.

"Do you have a thing for her?" Jason realized, and his eyes widened angrily, "I'm telling you to back off."

"And I'm telling you I don't care about her. So you can keep living in your weird fantasy with her, I won't stop you," Ryo laid back in his bed. Jason sighed in relief before Ryo continued, "But I won't stop making her nervous."

"Why? What's wrong with you?"

"Don't act like you aren't also enticed by her fear. Besides, I think this works out for both of us. I get to see her act so pitifully and then she runs into your arms for comfort."

Jason had to admit he had a point, "Fine. Just don't touch her," he turned around to leave.

"No promises," Ryo called out as Jason walked out the door.

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