A jackass covered in scars {Jasper + Jae-yong}
Jasper replied with a smirk then a sentence about the holding of hands. “No thank you, I hear the hands of a vampire are as cold as their hearts – if that’s true then yours must be freezing.”
He waited for the first blow, for the cogs to turn in Jae’s head and finally piece together what was happening. Jasper had taken them both back to a place similar to the one they’d spent months in a year ago. There they got into all sorts of trouble. At first Jasper had gone their for a form of escape, away from his duties at the Ministry and to get over the crawling feeling under his skin that lingered in the days subsequent to the full moon. The building had been a perfect place for this – isolated, quiet. Or so Jasper had assumed. Upon stepping inside the building Jasper could sense the presence of another, and within seconds he could hear whispers. There he met Jae, his mouth covered in red and a woman looking extremely pasty in contrast to the blood oozing from her skin. Jasper had been disgusted at first, though through conversation had found that this had been an agreement between the two of them. He still hadn’t been easy with the idea, but the lack of force in the interaction made it more comfortable. Days after that, Jasper and Jae returned with a different agenda on the mind but one goal at hand: get rid of the anger.
In the midst of his reminiscence, Jasper was knocked into reality by the force pushing into his face. There were many reasons why Jasper would never get into a brawl with someone much weaker than him, this was one of them. The rush from the hit pumped through Jasper’s veins, his own fists returning the blows that he received. Each time Jae’s hand landed on Jasper he could feel the pack behind it. And each time he felt it meant he was feeling. There was little time for emotions when it came to general work around the Ministry, and there had always been little time for emotions growing up – the words of his mother had snarled each time Jasper cried running through his mind, forcing him to suck up any form of release by building a wall. He wasn’t allowed to let anything show on the exterior; it made you weaker, more susceptible to attack. But with Jae, Jasper could show his rage in it’s purest form. The two of them were too consumed in their own escape to think about what the other was going through. They never talked about it, they simply helped one another heal then moved on. It would likely have been more therapeutic to talk it out, even in addition to the violence, however neither of them had reached that stage of comfort. Jasper could easily talk about it, about the change of the moon and how it left him wound up with no form of release until moments like these. But he didn’t know what was bothering Jae, what made Jae constantly ready to release such powerful hits. Jasper didn’t think Jae would want to tell, so he’d never bothered asking.
Jasper raised his hand as a gesture to stop. Jae automatically ceased fire and the two of them took to the floor, sitting across from each other. Jasper had next to no skills when it came to healing asides from the basic spells learnt at Hogwarts, even then he’d not been the best student of restoration – Jasper had a talent for deconstruction, taking things apart piece by piece. Therefore each time these meetings occurred, Jasper allowed for the vampire to attend to his wounds. The touch was intended to be soft, but the sharpness of the temperature from the skin made Jasper flinch. His hands were freezing. “I do not think you can improve upon what is already this beautiful.” Jasper corrected, a small smile forming upon his lips to ensure Jae caught the humor in the sentence. As the whispers came from Jae’s mouth, Jasper felt the skin on his face reforming and covering the wounds that were once dripping with blood. He looked to Jae to see any form of wanting in his eye, though found them blank and uninterested by the substance Jasper had denied him of since his wakening. Jasper had to admire the strength he had. “You can have your drink now.” Jasper suggested once the hands were removed from his face and Jae attended to his own wounds. It was times like these Jasper felt terrible for the fact Jae had to tend to himself, rather than Jasper helping. But there was little he could do with no skills to his name.
When they were both healed, Jasper rose to his feet and instinctively lent out a hand for Jae to pull himself up on. The gesture seemed to be polite, yet Jasper felt shame in offering the hand and thought to take it back if it had not been impolite to do so. In order to ease the turns his stomach seemed to be making, Jasper tried to play it off in a joking way. “Now I’m used to your cold old man hands, it’s not that bad to have contact. And with all that frowning you do I think you’ve aged thirty years and may need some help getting up.” Jasper said with a slight tease, his smile from earlier returning.
There was much to be explored in the building they had come to. It had previously had a purpose, there were many rooms and some had furniture in while others did not. They had not been finished with the place before giving up – somehow that conclusion felt like many of Jasper’s relationships, which had never been fully formed before Jasper cut himself off of the ties he had. Jae was an example, though Jasper had been given the opportunity to knot the frayed strings back together with a simple text and a meeting in a church. In many ways it had been a blessing; Jasper had never been one for actual friends, rather a wide circle of acquaintances he kept his best appearances with in order to seem approachable and respectable. In a position close to the top, Jasper didn’t want any form of relationship to break down the stable platform in which Jasper had built for himself. Joséphine was another matter, the two of them were unlikely friends in a situation that had caused them to merge together. He was thankful for his relationship with Joséphine – easy and straightforward, each knowing exactly what the other wanted and where they stood in the relationship. Jae was different, Jasper could never understand the relationship they had. It was better that way, it seemed.
Jasper turned to the next room, filled with cabinets and a few pieces of seating furniture. “This would be much more interesting if the building had been extremely old, but I don’t doubt what we find will be boring.” He said, allowing for Jae to step ahead of him and scope out the room before they moved onto the second one.
Jae frowned at Jasper’s movements as a result of the cold touch, but said nothing due to not wishing to waver his concentration. Each scrape was carefully looked after, Jae keeping his hands around the wound to keep it in place, watching as the seconds ticked past and the skin started to reform where it had been broken. He was no healer, that was for sure, but the sight from the process fascinated him. To Jasper’s jest, Jae tutted with disapproval before turning his attention to the final wound on Jasper. Jae didn’t believe he could truly tell when others were watching him, they had always been gut feelings that had been right but Jae also had faith in luck. The times he’d caught people off on a gut feeling was purely by chance and his own fortune. He was sure Jasper was observing, though what for Jae was uncertain. “I’d almost forgotten.” Jae replied, watching the wound heal before unscrewing the bottle and chugging as much down as he could. The chilling sensation of the liquid made Jae feel better than he had done in days. After the quick refreshment, Jae tended to the worst of his wounds and allowed the rest to heal themselves. Unlike Jasper, Jae could heal at a fastened pace no matter the time of month.
Jasper extended his hand, to which Jae instantly reached out for despite having no need for the physical support. There was hesitance in their position upon Jae’s upright standing, an uncomfort Jae had grown to be accustomed to upon arriving to the UK. One that he hadn’t thought about until arriving, mostly due to his small family and closed friend circle that had always been openly touch-orientated with one another; be it a hand on the shoulder or arm touching, it was never uncommon. Then Jae lost contact with many of them upon moving, which left him in a position where his previous interactions conflicted with new ones. Hand-holding was not such a big deal had it had been an old friend or his wife, but Jasper was different and Jae understood why there was need to feel cautious about the gesture. And so he played along with the joke, leaving his hand to linger a while longer before retracting it and playing it off with a half-hearted smile. “It’s good to know that when I’m almost sixty I’ll still look twice as attractive as you.” He retorted, his words light with some truth ringing. Werewolves aged physically quicker, whereas vampires aged at a slower pace. Meaning it was likely Jae would maintain a more youthful appearance than Jasper in their older years, but no doubt both of them would have flaws.
The two of them carried on into the other rooms, quickly falling back into routine of Jasper leading by a few steps with Jae keeping extremely close behind in case of intrusion. In that case Jae had quick access to grab the man’s arm and pull him away from whatever danger would happen, allowing them both to be free of harm. Nothing seemed to have been damaged within this room, or the building overall for that matter. It made Jae feel uneasy about the situation and their surroundings - he would have felt at ease with the creaks of floorboards underneath their feet and a gloomy setting surrounded by a building that had been standing for longer than it was due. However, this change to their routine stirred up some of the thrill of what had happened the first time the two of them had done something of the sorts. Jae could feel his breaths shortening with each step they took, silence surrounding them to the point of suffocation.
Then Jae heard the whispers.
He gritted down his teeth, placing his hand tightly around Jasper’s arm and pulling himself forwards to come into contact with his friend. With their heights similar in comparison, Jae got close to Jasper’s ear with ease. “Something’s wrong.” Jae whispered, a hint of urgency in his voice before he spun Jasper around with one tug. The voices got louder and Jae knew that whatever was happening to him was not normal, not something that could be fixed right this moment. But it was also something that couldn’t be taken straight to St. Mungos, especially if it had anything to do with dark magic of the trails he’d been following. His other hand gripped tight on Jasper’s left arm, the two of them facing each other with Jae holding too tightly to allow Jasper much room for movement. “Don’t let go.” He commanded before releasing the grip around the arms, pressing himself into an embrace against his friend with his arms tightly around the waist of the other.
Things went dark.
The woman faced him again, this time their setting was similar to the building Jae had previously been in. No, the building he was in. Jae wasn’t sure. Whether this was a dream, a hallucination, or whatever. The only thing he did know was that this was not normal and it was something he definitely needed to muse on when his head cleared up. Her lips were gone once again, but her voice still rang in his head as though she was standing right next to him. What she said sounded like a riddle, and one that Jae did not have the patience to solve. Instead of giving her the answer, Jae stood almost frozen in his spot before raising his head slightly. “I’m going to ask you to stop.” Was what came from his mouth, an odd request he wasn’t sure was going to get a reply. The woman stared blankly, no words were said before she disappeared. Then Jae came to.
“I don’t know if you’re expecting an explanation, but I do not have one so do not bother.” Jae immediately said, wishing to be rid of the situation due to the embarrassment of it all. Then he paused a few moments, looking to Jasper for a solid five seconds then nodding to himself. “I’ll explain what I can.” He said, revealing what had been happening that day. What he needed to do next was a mystery, but he left that out. Other pieces of information about his search and his suspicions about the ties to black magic were cautiously left out too with Jae naturally leaving out facts that may have been of important. They were not for the ears of those who were not Jae-yong.
