Stark Industries [Monday afternoon]

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

After a fun (no, not really) session in Ender's class about dealing with timelines and relatives and oh, your grandparents being five years older than you now and really karking touchy around each other still which gross, Cade slouched behind the counter at the shop and sulkily drank his milkshake.

He'd help you if you needed something fixed, but service with a smile had never exactly been his thing.

Comments

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

Jack might end or worsen the funk, depending on how you looked at things. She'd gotten a call from Kahlee Sanders that morning inviting her to help relaunch a biotics training program in the Skepsis system. She knew she'd take it, but there was still at least one real goodbye to say.

"Hey," she said, sounding slightly muted as she stepped into the shop. "So, I have kind of good news and kind of bad news. Which do you want first?"

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

Cade chewed his lower lip, already getting a bad feeling about this. "The bad news."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"I'm shipping out this weekend," Jack said, with a little bite on her own lower lip. "They scrounged up a couple kid biotics and want to start the training program back up. I can't say no, but I'm gonna miss a couple things about this fucked-up place."

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

Cade didn't bother to hide the disappointment on his face. "I better be one of those things."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"You're the only person I'm going out of my way to say goodbye to, goof," Jack answered, trying to make it sound off-hand. "You gonna miss me?"

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

Cade grinned. "Maybe a little."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"Only a little?" Jack asked, and maybe she was leaning forward to invade Cade's personal space now.

Classy.

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

Cade leaned in to meet her. "Don't want to overplay my hand."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"I'd say your hand's looking pretty good right now," Jack told him, and then she couldn't say anything else because she'd been meaning to kiss him for practically a year and it was time to do it or give up, and she did not give up.

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Only my hand?" Cade said when he finally broke away to breathe, some substantial time later.

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"Right now, but you're still wearing clothes," Jack pointed out, after a few deep breaths to get her head to stop spinning. "You're good at that for a kid."

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Haven't been a kid in a while," Cade replied with a little smirk. "And the clothes thing can definitely be fixed."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"No," Jack said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "You really haven't been."

And then she set about fixing the clothes issue in a way entirely inappropriate for a public comm. They could talk after.

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

After (also a respectable time later, thanks so much), Cade fixed his pants back but left the shirt off because he was suuuuuuper classy that way. "That was the good news?" he guessed with a smirk.

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"A chance to bang somebody hot is always good news," Jack smirked back at him. She'd yanked her tank top and her underpants back on, and that covered more skin than she bothered with half the time so she figured that was more than enough. "And yeah, I figured it was time to go for the direct approach. Dating's for boring people."

Again, this was an encounter oozing with class.

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"So are beds," Cade said with a grin.

Or rooms with window shades, apparently.

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"There are a couple good things to say about beds," Jack objected, with a little laugh in her voice.

As for the lack of window shades ... hey, with bodies like theirs she figured an exhibitionist streak was a gift to mankind.

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Next time," Cade said, waggling his eyebrows. "I'm not busy today."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"I think I could probably keep you busy a little longer than that," Jack said. She thought the eyebrow thing was ridiculous but also strangely attractive, and the combination made her giggle. "Unless, y'know, you got another hot date before Friday."

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

Cade made an elaborate show of thinking about it. "You know what, I don't. How convenient."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"Definitely makes my life much easier," Jack agreed. "And I'm sure there's some joke about 'easy' in there that we could make, but let's skip it."

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"It would be tacky," Cade agreed.

And he knew tacky.

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"And we aren't tacky people," Jack nodded, and hopped up on top of the counter. "So, what are you doing after I go, anyhow? Like, besides crying yourself to sleep. Are you on the island for good?"

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Kark, no," Cade said with a shudder. "I'm only here through the summer as a favor to Ender and Ben. After this, I'll head home, maybe try my hand at bounty hunting."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"Good line of work," Jack said approvingly. "Lots of exercise and you can be pretty sure most of the people you're shooting at deserve it."

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

Finally, someone who understood his amazing career plan!

"Plus if they don't, I'll get paid a lot more credits, probably."

Excellent ethics, Cade.

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"Nah, stick with the ones who deserve it if you can," Jack advised. "The other kind keep you up nights. Not worth it. Let some other asshole take those jobs."

She had ethics! ... kind of.

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Not sure I'll get much choice in the beginning," Cade admitted. "Probably on some to be killed lists myself, really."

If by "probably" you meant "definitely."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

Jack let out a low whistle. "Any chance you could pick some backwater system to hang out in until they get bored?" she asked. "I figure it's either that or go after them first."

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Too many of them to do that," Cade said. "I'll lay low."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

"You better," Jack told him, not quite managing to cover the worried note in her tone. "We can't have cross-universe booty calls if you get yourself killed, Cade."

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

Cade gave her a grin. "Oh, I'm very invested in not being dead. Don't worry, pateesa."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

Jack grinned back. "Awesome," she said. "And I'm assuming 'pateesa''s not anything bad."

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Means sweetheart," Cade said, smiling turning lopsided, "or near enough."

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

Dammit, that was actually sweet. Jack's neck was going pink under her tattoos.

"Cute, but I'm gonna laugh if you go all mushy on me," she said, which was a total lie.

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Never," Cade assured her with a little wink.

The never was also mostly a lie.