Chapter Sixteen

Jason took even steps toward the living room. He knew you were there. He usually knew where most people in the house would be. He was observant. Not many people in the house made Jason feel threatened. He figured that He and Ryo were on equal footing. Quince could scare Jason, but he chose not to. Suki, Don, and Jenna probably couldn't scare him if he tried.

Dianna, though. Something about her brought chills to his skin. He had lied to you about her having an unsavory past, but he honestly wouldn't be shocked to learn that it was a reality. She had an aura that made anyone want to submit. Decidedly, he had to keep her from getting attached to you. That would be absolutely no fun. He found you and Suki in the living room. You were napping like an unsuspecting kitten and she was watching old Disney cartoons. She seemed bored but content.

"I'm going to wake her up," Jason announced before walking in front of the TV.

"Are you joking?!" Suki whisper-yelled before feebly blocking you with her arms, "Let the girl sleep!"

"No," Jason stared blankly. He set a hand on your shoulder and shook gently. Suki was clearly annoyed but did nothing to stop him. As if you were an old desktop computer that was booting up for the first time in years, you woke up slowly. It took you a minute to process your surroundings.

"Oh. Hello, Jason," you managed to speak through your dried-out mouth. "What's hanging?" Despite his previous tension, he couldn't help but smile softly at you.

"I wanted to talk to you, that's all,"

"Can you do it here?" you asked, "I'm hanging out with Suki." You sat up slowly and rubbed your eyes. Sleep called to you like a siren song, and it took all of your willpower not to lean right back on Suki's soft lap and go back to sleep. Jason frowned.

"You've spent enough time with Suki. I need to talk to you," at this, he looked to Suki. He was having some sort of weird communication via eye contact with her. After a lot of him glaring and her pouting (without you ever realizing), she sighed.

"It's ok, (y/n). Why don't we just hang out later, ok? Make Jason cook or something," she smiled at you. You cheered at the prospect of cooking with Jason again, which made both Jason and Suki smile. After you said a short farewell, Jason drug you out of the room and into the hallway.

He took you into his room and led you to one of his chairs. It was soft, but you were a little confused. Most interactions with Jason start this way, you reminded yourself. He probably just wants to hang out, nothing serious, right? "What's up?" you offered.

"I heard about what happened with Suki on Christmas," he spoke bluntly. Being reminded of the incident brought a flush to your face.

"Is that what you wanted to talk about?" you asked nervously. You hoped it wasn't. You didn't want to talk about it. Saying things out loud always made them real again. You looked at the floor.

"I just wanted to ask if you're okay," his tone softened. Jason hadn't been sure when he was going to pull this card, but Dianna had just made him nervous. He sneakily locked his door before sitting next to you. No interruptions.

"I'm okay. She apologized to me afterword, and she's been very nice and back to normal. It's totally possible that she may have misinterpreted my actions, but regardless, it's history now," you smiled sadly. You hoped that was the end of it. Jason pressed a palm to your shoulder and leaned in a little too close. He was so much taller than you that you had to look up at him. He smelled nice. You tried to shake all those thoughts from your head—what was he doing?

"You forgive her?" he seemed suspicious as he looked into your eyes.

"I—yeah," you admitted. Would that upset him?

"Would you forgive me?" you could feel his breath on your skin. His question stunned you for a minute and you couldn't speak. His eyes weren't clouded over or half-lidded like Suki's were—he looked fully alert. The hand he had rested on your shoulder seemed to only get warmer as you panicked. Was this a joke? Was he messing with you? His face leaned in closer and your heartbeat sped up. You leaned back in the chair, but he only came closer. "(y/n)?" He said your name softly.

"Jason, I—"

"Say my name again?" he interrupted. He was getting sidetracked, he knew, but with you so close and so lovely he could barely stop himself. You were so endearing, he just wanted to forget his whole plan and snatch you away.

"Jason," you obliged. "What are you doing?" He stopped at your question. Inwardly, he sighed and leaned away.

"I'm sorry, I think I was just curious," he lied as he removed himself completely from your personal bubble. If he messed up now, he would lose so much progress. He needed to regain his composure.

"Oh," was all you could say as your brow furrowed deeper. You didn't know what to say to his question Would I forgive him? I guess that depends on the circumstance, and what happens after, you reasoned in your mind. In a much more platonic gesture, Jason placed his hand on yours.

"What I mean to say is that I hope you're careful. I hope you're safe..." he trailed off. He did mean what he said... for the most part. He wanted you to be safe and to be happy, just as long as you were safe and happy next to him.

"I'm... trying to be careful," you looked down. Why is everyone telling you to restrain and exist in fear? You wanted to live freely.

"I don't mean to scare you," Jason lied to you again. "How about we cook dinner in a bit, would you like to? For now, I think I need a minute." It was clear to you that Jason was a little rattled and needed space, but he was still trying to cheer you up. You smiled at him and nodded.

"That sounds great, come find me when you're ready," you stood. He walked you to his door and you noticed the lock. "Jason, did you lock the door?"

"Hmm? Oh!" he seemed to see it as well," I must have clicked it shut on reflex, sorry, he laughed as he flicked the lock and opened the door. "Sorry. I'll see you later?" You nodded and smiled before gently pressing a hug to him. Whatever was bothering him and making him act so weird had to be troubling him. You hoped he was ok.

In his mind, though, he was stunned at your actions. Your kindness and empathy went even further than he might have realized. He smiled despite himself as he hugged you back. He had just spouted lies to you and almost kissed you thoughtlessly, but here you were. Holding him. You leaned up and set a fast, platonic kiss to his cheek before running down the hall like a child. You giggled all the way.

.:x x x x x:.

Dianna paced the kitchen. She could just ask Quince for cookies. She knew that. But would it seem like an empty gesture? Was it better to give you cookies she made herself even if the quality was much lower than what she could get from the higherups very easily? She shook her head. Maybe if she incorporated the cookies into something else, getting them through Quince could be acceptable? What did you like to do, anyway? You were nice enough that you'd probably agree to most activities, but Dianna didn't want you to just go along with something. What would you enjoy?

She walked around so lost in thought that she didn't notice you enter the room. "Oh, Hello Dianna," you announced your presence with a wave. At this, Dianna whipped around and looked at you with wide eyes. A string of curses went through her brain as she froze. She was planning dammit, this was no time for you to appear by surprise! She smiled and regained her composure. "Maybe I can go ahead and request time with her. Can't hurt anything," She thought as she greeted you and waved back.

"(y/n), you look lovely as usual," Dianna closed some of the distance between you two. "Are you busy with anything right now?"

"Oh, thank you," you smiled. "And no, I just got done talking with Jason. Did you want to hang out?"

"Jason?" She paused, and you just nodded. "Hanging out would be great, do you have anything you'd like to do?" She couldn't really outright ask you about what Jason talked about, could she? Little did she know, you were also tense right now. Jason had warned you that Dianna had done something... bad. But he didn't know what. Was his vague word enough to make you not want to know her? It sounded like she wouldn't even talk about it. Maybe if you got another person to be with the two of you, you wouldn't have to worry.

"Nothing in particular," you shrugged. "Maybe we could play a board game with Quince or something." Quince is fine. Most everyone in the house would be fine to play board games with.

"You know how competitive I am, and you want to play games?" She raised an eyebrow. You nodded and laughed at this. She took a step closer, "And why do you want to bring Quince? Am I not enough?" She asked hastily.

"It's nothing like that!" you raised your hands defensively. "I just think it might be fun, is all." Shit, what's her deal? I just don't want to try anything risky.

"Hm, I guess so," she looked at you. "But I'm hoping to spend some time alone with you sometime soon." She maintained intense eye contact, all you could do was nod. Maybe you could ask Jason for some guidance later, he always seems willing to help.

The two of you awkwardly made your way to a room full of board games. Jenna had mentioned this to me. You left her to choose one while you ran to find Quince or... anyone else. You needed someone to help curb the awkwardness, right? You were checking room so quickly, you didn't notice the person right in front of you. Your body collided harshly with someone else's and you both crashed to the floor.

"Sorry," you groaned while rolling over them to be on the floor.

"Are you okay?" Quince asked without moving from the floor. Whoops. Well, at least I found him. You sat up slowly and placed a hand to your forehead. That hurt! At least he cushioned your fall a bit.

"I'm fine, are you okay?"

He stood and offered you a hand up, "You should be more careful." He hefted you up and held you a little too close. You could see into his eyes and you could also feel the air begin to get more awkward. He released you and used both of his hands to brush your hair back into place before you spoke again.

"I was looking for you, are you busy?"

"Looking for me? I'm not busy, not right now anyway," he answered.

"Dianna and I were going to play some board games and, uh, I just wanted to know if you wanted to play, too?" You were getting a little fidgety, but to your luck, he agreed. The two of you walked back to where she would be. Dianna had already set up the board of Monopoly. Great. You resigned yourself to your fate and picked the little dog piece.

There are worse things to be doing, you decided.

.:x x x x x:.

Admittedly, Suki was a little upset. What was Jason thinking? She didn't really get why he had encouraged her to be with (y/n) only to take her away when they were hanging out. And why couldn't Suki just come with them? She wanted to talk to him, and so she went to find him. He was in his room, moping, which was weird to her.

"I just wanted to talk about (y/n)," she explained when he asked what was up. He nodded at this. It made sense. Everyone wants to talk about (y/n).

"Sorry for taking her from you earlier, I just wanted to ask her something," Jason spoke. That wasn't really a satisfying reply. Like, that much was obvious.

"Do you... like her too?" Suki frowned. She had noticed how close he had been with her. Suki didn't mind sharing too much, but it didn't feel like they were sharing. It felt competitive.

"Don't worry about that, Suki. I know how you feel," he wasn't lying, but he was still being vague. She couldn't do much but drop it at this point. To push further would start an argument and that's never a great idea.

"I wouldn't mind... us both dating her. But it has to be an agreement! You can't take me out of the picture, I loved her first," words fell from her mouth quickly.

Jason was stunned at the idea. Sharing (y/n)? No way! He didn't want anyone else to look at you, not even Suki. Not unless that was his only option. For several moments, he didn't speak. And then, his shoulders shook, laughing. "Suki, she's just a friend, okay? You have nothing to worry about. Not from me, anyway."

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