Noah bangs on the door of my room in the hotel suite, his talent for pushing and pulling at things making the entire room rattle for a moment with his worry. I stumble out of bed, fighting back a yawn since it’s definitely Stupid O’Clock and open the door in my jeans and t-shirt. Travelling with Anya and Noah hasn’t been the same as Jay, but five years of travelling with a very enthusiastic eleven year olf boy from outside the universe creates habits, and one of those is always sleeping clothed because you never knew when an adventure would happen.
Or fall on you. Or explode.
Noah just stands wide-eyed in the doorway, the glamour that hides his acne gone – Jay, no doubt, but there is a tension in him that isn’t there anymore despite the new tension as he points toward the kitchen wordlessly.
“Couch. In the fridge. And a pool,” he adds.
“This hotel doesn’t have –.” I pause, and walk quickly toward the suites kitchen as Noah goes to wake Anya.
The kitchen isn’t large, but currently is a pool. With sand around it, and the island floating in the middle just like an island would. Jay is on it, and asking the island if it would like a palm tree. I doubt a kitchen island even knows what a palm tree is, but it is liable to say yes. Most things do to Jay, often as a matter of survival.
“Uh-huh! Noah said you needed drinks, and there can even be fish and foods and probably lots of pineapples too!”
The water coming out of the sink was clear when it started, and slowly changing as the sink draws water from the sewers as well. I watch algae form on the stove top, some vague memory nagging at me.
“I definitely need coffee more than pineapple,” I say.
Jay beams, and vanishes to get that. I use the time to look up algae on my phone, take the coffee he hands me when he returns a minute later.
“You might need to get rid of the pond, Jay.”
“But but but it’s a really good one!”
Anya comes into the kitchen behind Noah, not looking at Noah and then just at the pool. She bites back saying a word Jay definitely shouldn’t know.
“It is a very good pool,” I say. “But the sink is getting water from other places than just the hotel, and that means you’re getting lots of algae.”
“I am pretty jaysome at making new friends.”
“Yes. Yes, you are, but the algae will bloom and that looks pretty but is really a decay that will stop other things from being in the water at all.”
“Algae bloom. You’re trying to stop a pool in a hotel room with algae,” Anya says in a small voice; she sounds at once impressed and horrified.
Noah just looks confused; I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know what one is.
“And you could make it more jaysome, but the algae has to be somewhere,” I add quickly. “So returning it back home might be best.”
Jay lets out a huge sigh and the water begins to return as he apologies to the sand and the kitchen and the algae and water as well.
“I almost did an oops,” he says after it is gone, looking worried.
“I’ve been really good at not doing those and fixing up accidents all my myself,” he says proudly.
I’ve seen the texts from Dylan. I settle for a nod.
“Only –.” Jay pauses. The pause sets off alarm bells.
“Only?” Noah asks for all of us when I forget to speak.
“Only I’m worried that jaysome might get funny if I have too many adventures and I fix them up too good, but! now I have more people to help me do that!”
“Make sure jaysome is never an algae bloom and totally doesn’t decay even if it isn’t a philosophy cuz pineapples are good on lots of things besides pizza.”
I stare at Jay. Noah coughs, and offers a small nod when I look over at him. Which I imagine means he can explain that at least later.
“All right. Noah and Anya need coffee too, and then we need to get breakfast,” I say.
Jay vanishes with a whoop of joy as I tell Noah and Anya to get ready for the rest of the day, and for breakfast.
“For breakfast?” Anya asks.
I just smile; she’s never seen Jay really eat a breakfast, and some adventures are best left for others to learn themselves.
Noah doesn’t put the fae glamour up as we leave the hotel. I walk beside him. “It should be okay.”
Noah blinks, turns to me. “I –.” He gulps and falls silent.
I wonder how much even he has forgot in the past few months just how people reacted to both his freckles and acne; from his fear, he’s worried he has as well. “Jay is very distracting,” I say, entirely deadpan, and he laughs softly.
We head toward the IHOP as Jay appears with coffee for us and says he’s already found one adventure for later.
I decide not to ask where he put it until then.
vaporwave
baratheonpilled
dailybridgerton
annaxmalina
jacobvanloon
origamiaround
