And then I got high...

Who: Bruce & Jesse
When: after school till whenever
Where: MSHS then Jesse's house

Bruce waited just outside the front of the school for Jesse, bundled up and ready to walk to his friend's house. He still wasn't really sure what was up with his sister and how crazy she was acting about real werewolves attacking the town. She seemed dead serious and that made him worry. Breezy could get riled up easily, of course, but she didn't hold onto things rabidly if they were total crap. But at the same time who was this Lily girl and what did she know? The girl could've been loony or something for all Bruce knew. It was a lot to think about, and it wasn't like he could completely write off there being other not-totally-human things out there in the world considering what he and his family were.

After the attacks the night before, Jesse had seriously not been sure about this whole getting-together thing. And then Nate's message had come, and he'd been even less sure. But all the attacks had been happening outside, so it stood to reason that if they stayed in, it'd be okay, right? Right. Something. Honestly, it would make him feel slightly better if he was sure Bruce was indoors somewhere, and if they were together, that worked out fine. There were other people to worry about, sure, but that was one less. He came out of the school and flipped his hood up, headed to where he was supposed to meet Bruce, so they could head to his place and hole up for the night. "Ready, blondie?" he asked with a small smirk as he arrived.

"Yeah, let's go. My sister's gone batshit and, uh, I need the sanity of scary movies," Bruce said and smiled at Jesse. Maybe all this was why his parents didn't want their kids watching horror flicks in the first place? And that was a lame thought. Breezy wasn't gullible the last time he checked, which only made this whole thing even weirder. The attacks were sad enough without making up crazy circumstances for them. But maybe it was how small town people dealt with crazy shit going down? He didn't know.

Jesse started walking in the direction of his place, not really wanting to waste time lingering around. No thank you. He looked over at Bruce and arched an eyebrow a bit. "Your sister's gone batshit?" he asked in a questioning tone. Under the circumstances, he couldn't really blame her, but he didn't know if Bruce knew much about the circumstances. Which as dangerous, honestly, and he was going to have to be rather convincing when it came to the guy staying the night.

"Yeah," Bruce said and shrugged. He made a mental note to remember the way to Jesse's place for future reference. "One of her friends has her convinced werewolves are taking over the town or some shit. I swear, you let too many girls hang out with each other and they come up with the craziest shit." He didn't really like the idea of his sister going off of some random girl's word, he realized. And maybe Lily and Breezy had been friends since day one in Marquette practically, but she was still just "some girl" to him.

Werewolves. Holy shitballs, he hadn't even thought of that. Probably because he'd been avoiding the hospital like the plague, and didn't want to see anything that had happened to those people. Werewolves attacking, it was just ... fucked up. And tonight was the full moon, wasn't it? Of course it was. Yes, okay, it was decided, Bruce was staying the night, and they were locking down. "Yeah, that's pretty crazy," he said weakly, adding a chuckle in there that wasn't really convincing. Shit. Shit shit shit no wonder Nate was freaked. To shatter Bruce's worldview or not to shatter? Fuck.

"She's normally not like this so I don't know what the fuck is up," Bruce added lamely, hoping Jesse didn't now think his twin was totally psycho. There had to be something better to talk about than Breezy's sanity or lack there of. And in typical Bruce fashion he lunged at the first topic he could think of that seemed safe, regardless of how much it didn't fit into the flow of the current conversation. "So, uh, still going to do that rune thing or whatever?"

Maybe he could keep Bruce safe tonight without giving too much away. Maybe that was the best plan. Because if he freaked out, or got all defiant, that could be more dangerous. Subconsciously, Jesse had picked up his pace just a bit. The abrupt subject change was almost appreciated. "Yeah, sure," he said, looking over again with a small smile. It would still give him room to dig, and even with werewolves apparently running rampant, he couldn't pass that opportunity up, could he? "I think we're on our own tonight, though, Nate sounded ... kinda busy in a text he sent me."

Bruce kept up with Jesse easily, not really noticing the change in pace. He was a little disappointed that Nate had changed plans, though, for more than one reason. "Oh, that sucks," he said before he could realize how bad that sounded. Great. "Uh, sucks that he's busy. Not that ...yeah. More pizza for us, right?" He didn't bother looking over at Jesse after all that backtracking rolled out of his mouth. He tried to refuse to worry about Jesse taking that the wrong way, but it was difficult when he worried about every little thing anyway.

Jesse didn't even think to take it offensively. Stuff like that just didn't really phase him, and really, he'd been kind of looking forward to hanging out with all three of them anyway. The reason was more what sucked and worried him. He would definitely be texting Nate later on, to see if he was okay. God, sometimes he fucking hated being able to see into other people's pasts, it just made shit complicated. "We'll all get together again soon," he said. If one of us doesn't get, y'know ... eaten. Jesse pushed past the thought and tried to rally himself a bit. "But in the meantime ... you and me and pizza and scary movies. Sounds like a time." He smiled slightly.

"I've been looking forward to it all week. It's not really October without scary movies, you know? And, uh, need something to make up for morning detention bullshit. Glad that crap's over," Bruce said with a nod. He really had wanted to hang out with Nate too. But now there was this sort of inherent awkwardness that came along with Bruce hanging with just Jesse, and he'd figured Nate being there would've helped him not worry about it. It was utterly selfish and he knew it, but he couldn't help trying to avoid the weirdness. It was his own fault anyway. Scary movies would have to be the cure. That and sitting on the opposite side of whatever couch or seating was involved.

"Yeah," Jesse said noncommittally. He hoped that word -- or good sense, at least -- had gotten around enough so that other people he knew would stay in. Like ... Eben and Nic. And Nate's little brother. He was aware on some level that he was acting really preoccupied and not awesome, but he'd always been bad at faking shit like that. It kind of dampened the whole idea that he was going to get a whole evening with just Bruce and him. He turned them down the street to his neighborhood. " ... so what do you want to start with? Hilariously bad horror or actually good horror?"

"Could start with the good stuff and end it on a hilariously bad note?" Bruce suggested and took note of the name of the street they'd started walking down. He might have been more concerned about the weird attacks if he actually watched or listened to news reports and didn't just go off of his parents' warnings to stay safe and not be outside after dark. It wasn't like he, or anyone he cared about, was planning on going down by the park where he'd heard most of this stuff had happened. That left him free reign to worry about his teenage problems and how weird his sister was acting. He glanced over at Jesse and saw the guy wasn't exactly his usual upbeat self. Maybe he was worried about the attacks and shit too.

"Sounds good to me." Maybe it would be distracting. Or would make him worry more, seeing actors pretend to be killed. They'd just have to see. He would ... check in with folks and make sure Bruce didn't go anywhere, and there wasn't much else he could do. He gestured at a house that was tidy, if a bit small-ish, and had two cars in the driveway. Both of his parents were home, and that was a small relief itself. Even though they didn't make a habit of wandering around after dark; usually his mom was too tired. He looked over at Bruce with a faint smirk as he pulled his keys out. "And now you get to meet parents, I know you're thrilled. They won't get in the way or anything, though, they knew this was going on."

"Cool," Bruce said with a small smile as he followed Jesse towards the house. He didn't mind meeting his friends' parents. Normally said parents didn't mind him at all or thought he was a "nice boy." He could handle that. Not to mention he tended to think other people's parents were cool when they let them play decent video games and watch decent movies without balking.

Jesse unlocked the door and let them into the house, shutting and locking it behind Bruce. He heard the TV on in the living room and headed that way. There was some talkshow on, but not one of the screaming kinds. His mother couldnt' stand those. She twisted her head as she heard the boys approach, a woman who looked small -- smaller than Jesse -- and aged beyond what she was intended to be. There was an afghan over her legs and a bandanna tied around her head. Sparse hair the same color as her son's peeked out here and there. She gave them a smile, and closed her eyes briefly as Jesse leaned in to kiss her cheek. "Hello boys," she said warmly, patting her son's arm and smiling at Bruce. "You must be Bruce. There's soda in the fridge, just let me know when you want the living room."

"Hi," Bruce said with a little wave and a small smile. Jesse's mom looked sick. Really sick. And not just under the weather with the flu either. He felt kind of bad for even being there when she probably wanted to rest, or that was the first thing that sprang to mind despite what Jesse had said about her before. The truth of the matter was he didn't really have a lot of experience with illnesses outside of run of the mill viruses like colds or chicken pox.

Not wanting to linger and rub in the fact that his mom was dying -- no, not dying, just ... being treated. They were treating her, she'd be fine. In any case, not wanting to linger, Jesse nudged Bruce's shoulder and headed for the kitchen for some beverages for them. "You cool going upstairs?" he asked once they were out of earshot. He really didn't want to displace her, and since they were doing a reading first, his room was better anyway.

Bruce followed Jesse, remembering where the kitchen was from when he'd stayed the night after the bonfire. He nodded. "Yeah, that's cool. I'm down for whatever," he said and adjusted the backpack on his shoulders. Mostly he was ready to ditch it and just relax into the start of the weekend with his friend. He still thought it sucked Nate couldn't hang out with them, since he wanted to get to know him better too. Selfish straight anchoring reasons aside. It was hard to stay in his own little world with his own little problem though, but he wasn't about to ask Jesse if his mom was okay. It was obvious she wasn't and he didn't want to be a nosy prick about it.

Jesse grabbed a couple of soda cans and passed one off to Bruce before he led the way up the stairs again. The guy was going to really learn his house, and Jesse was okay with that. He so rarely had company over, it felt ... nice. Comfortable. Once in the sanctuary of his room, Jesse shut the door and ducked under the strap of his messenger bag, setting it up against the dresser. He plopped down on the floor, not saying anything about his ill mother, and started digging around for his runes in the bag. "Pull up some floor, buddy boy," he said to Bruce, nodding to the space in front of him.

Bruce dropped his backpack to the floor where it would be out of the way and put his jacket and other things on top of it. Then he settled on the floor and opened his can of soda, taking a sip while he watched Jesse digging through his bag. He always randomly thought it had to be kind of boring but nice to have a room to yourself. A truly private space in the house. Another thing to add to the long list of stuff Bruce wanted for himself once he'd moved out of his parents' place. But that was years away unless they didn't stick around in whatever town he went to college in. "So what kind of stuff do the runes... do?" he asked, totally out of the loop on how any of that divination stuff really worked. It was easy to figure out tarot cards had to be put in some fancy layout, but he wasn't familiar at all with this rune stuff.

"They give answers to present questions or situations you have," he said, locating the Crown Royal bag he had his runes in. He shook them up a little, and reached in to move them around some with his fingers and warn them up. They were beach-stones with the ancient Viking symbols carved into them, a set he had special made through some website he found a couple of years prior. Jesse shifted comfortably, crossing his legs indian-style. He shook the bag a little bit more, then offered the open end of it toward Bruce. "Think of a question you need advice on, and just pick out three. And set them down, from right to left. If it looks upsidedown, don't switch it, too," he instructed with a faint smile.

"Just one question?" Bruce asked, screwing up his face a little as he tried to settle on just one. It was a lot easier said than done. He felt like he needed advice on his whole life, but that was probably too broad and it wasn't even a question. There was shit he could ask about his sister, her situation. And then there was his apparent problem with getting in fights. And there was Jesse, sitting in front of him. But that wasn't really something he needed advice on, even if he wanted it. Bruce tried to mentally backtrack to the issue with his temper in regards to Aaron. The string of rumors the bastard had thrown around about him and Breezy had Bruce ready to pummel him in earnest. He tried to focus on a not entirely concrete question of how he was supposed to keep his temper in check, then drew three stones out of the bag and set them down like Jesse had indicated. "Fucking a. You sure three's enough?"

"There's more complex spreads, but yeah, three's usually enough," Jesse murmured, looking down at the runes that Bruce had picked out. At the same time, his ability pushed and had him looking through them. He didn't know specifically what he was digging for, just that Bruce's memory bank was open to him now, and he could sift through it as much as he liked. He got a lot of family -- a lot of family -- and even some more of his dark-haired boyfriend. Who apparently had been a secret, back when. Which was revealing, but not surprising. And then ... there was other stuff. Strange stuff. Jesse squinted a bit, seemingly at the runes, as he tried to make sense of all the colors and ... was that a loom? What the hell? "Okay, let's see ... you're struggling with something from your past ... something that keeps wanting to come back when you don't want it to ... but it's one of those things that has to do with the self, it's a behavior thing. And that last one ... says it'll just take patience with yourself, perseverance. And you'll backslide some, but that's okay," he said, though the tone was mostly absent. He was still kind of lost on what he was seeing. "Do you ... weave, man?" he asked, one eye closing for a second as he looked up.

Bruce's mouth was already hanging open after the reading bit, because it was spot on as hell and kind of freaky. And then Jesse had to ask him that random ass question that bothered him more than the other stuff. "What? No," he said and shrugged both shoulders. Obviously there was no way he was going to say anything about weaving dreams for his brothers as practice. Or, you know, any of it at all. Jesse seemed to have this way with throwing him conversational curve balls that he didn't know how to react to, let alone lie about in a way he felt was convincing. He took a drink of his soda and looked down at the rune stones. "Your rocks have a lot of confidence in me or my patience or whatever."

Jesse stared at him for another beat, then nodded a bit. He thought that was a lie, since, y'know, he saw some kind of weird-ass weaving going on, but calling Bruce out on it would only spark off more questions in his direction than he really wanted to answer. "They only reflect what's true, so maybe you don't have enough confidence in yourself and your patience or whatever," he said as he plucked the 'rocks' up off the carpet and dropped them back in the bag. Why couldn't someone he met have normal minds and memories? He kept running into fucked up shit and it was weird. "But if you wanna know about your future, c'mere, gimme your hand," he said, setting the bag aside and gesturing toward Bruce's hand.

"Yeah, maybe my hand can tell me how long before my parents cart me off somewhere else," Bruce said somewhat wryly. He set his soda can off to the side and wiped the cold condensation off on the knee of his jeans before looking at both of his palms and debating which one would likely have the better fortune. It was silly, but this whole thing was kind of silly anyway. Even if he really wanted to ask where the hell Jesse had got that weaving question from. ...But that would just lead them down some path that would likely be a bad path to bother with. He didn't want to say more than he should without meaning to. He had to be better guarded. Arbitrarily he went with his left hand and stuck it out towards Jesse, feeling pretty foolish.

"You'd be surprised," Jesse murmured as he took Bruce's wrist and pulled his hand in closer. He leaned down a bit, tilting his head to let the light fall on the palm in front of him. He kind of curled Bruce's fingers enough to crease the lines in a little bit before pushing them out again. The ludicrous urge popped up in the back of his mind to give 'em a lick and a suck to see how the guy would react, but that was just one of those things. He dismissed it as a bad idea and chalked it up to hormones, and focused in on what he was doing. He looked for more weaving-things in Bruce's memories, but there wasn't a lot of it. It was just using shit that he'd never seen before, and it was weird. He wanted to know, but the crux of his curse was that he couldn't ask. "It's kinda hard to say," he said after a moment of looking. He pushed his glasses up on his head and squinted in closer, his breath on Bruce's palm. "It's like ... your love-line is split all to hell. And these over here?" he said, tracing some of the smaller lines under his thumb. "There's a lot of them. They're kinda ... indicative of stress."

At first Bruce was a little preoccupied with how close this whole thing was to holding hands, but not. It was weird and probably a really bad idea in retrospect. But once Jesse was leaned in all crazy and pointing shit out, Bruce found himself leaning in a little closer to see what the crap he was talking about. "Uh, I get stressed out easily?" he offered, and then he was trying to ignore the fact that Jesse was breathing on him and ...he just really needed to get out more. With girls. "And I don't know about any love-line shit." He shrugged his right shoulder so as not to jostle the hand Jesse was reading. "Thought I was in love once, but, uh... whatever. Did you find the part yet about how I'm going to get married and have loads of kids?"

"Who did you think you were in love with?" Jesse asked, still focused on Bruce's palm. It was nosy, sure, and he thought that he already knew, but it was different getting him to say it. Which was something he probably shouldn't push for, and he wasn't really, but knowing that someone was keeping something kinda big from him was frustrating. However. It was Bruce's secret to keep if he was comfortable in his closet. Jesse just kind of wished that he didn't know better. "Not seeing marriage and loads of kids right now, but your lines change as you age, so ... it might be there someday," he said. He was close enough to Bruce's hand to smell his skin, and it was true that he had a nice wrist. But none of that needed paying attention to, and he sat back, rubbing one eye with the heel of his hand. He let the poor guy go.

Bruce propped his right elbow up on his leg and rested his face against it while he inspected the lines on his left hand. "Good thing my parents can't read palms or they'd have a shit fit," he joked with a smirk, even though it was probably more of a Breezy caliber joke. That bought him some time to consider how best to answer Jesse's question. Another one he wasn't prepared to ever be asked, but at least he was semi prepared this time around. "Thought I was in love with this girl back in Salt Lake. But, uh, I don't think that long distance relationship bullshit works. Especially when you're sixteen, you know? Not exactly cool telling people you've got an internet girlfriend anyway." He smiled and sat up a little straighter as he looked over at Jesse again. The guy really needed to invest in some contacts or something and stop hiding behind those glasses.

Jesse opened his eyes and looked at the colored blur that was Bruce. He did that sometimes, looked at things without his glasses. He guessed he should get used to it anyway. He was going blind, after all. Pretty soon, everything would look like this. He smiled faintly. For some reason, it kind of made Bruce's dodge easier to take, too. "It's not cheating if you're in another zip code, that's what they say," he said with another chuckle. "Shit's hard at sixteen. And seventeen, and eighteen, and all the way up until forever, nothin' worthwhile's ever easy, they say that too. But you're right, somebody you care for being present makes a difference. Humans weren't built for long-distance, there has to be ... contact, physical connection, pheramones, eye-gazing, text doesn't do shit for that." He sat there for a second, blinking owlishly, and then flipped his glasses back down. Enough of that shit. "Movie?"

"Yeah. Movie's definitely better than thinking about my failed attempt at a love life," Bruce said, able to be a little more humored about things now that it felt like he'd really started settling into his life in Michigan. It didn't mean it didn't hurt anymore, but now it was more bittersweet than anything. He gestured at the television. "Any idea which one first?"

The other blonde chuckled and shook his head. "You and me, man ... same boat, no paddles, up Shit Creek." He moved from where he was, crawling over toward his tv and movie collection. He sat back on his heels and looked over what their options were. "What'd we say? Bad horror first, or good horror?" Details like that tended to slip his mind, especially when there was lots of other talking going on besides.

"I think it was the good stuff first. But, uh, doesn't really matter. Just put on what you want," Bruce said with a nod, thinking back through layers of conversation. He was to the point where he didn't really care, he was just ready to watch anything that wasn't made by Disney or aimed at a child audience.

Looking contemplative for a moment, Jesse picked out a dvd case and popped it open. "Then here is your auspicious introduction to the world of Asian horror, my good friend," he said, popping the disc in the player and moving to crawl onto the bed. He found the remote and flopped down on his stomach. There was enough room for Bruce if he wanted it -- the bed had the best tv angle, after all -- but he wasn't going to push anything.

Bruce moved so he was sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed, his back against the footboard. Somehow he thought lying on the bed with Jesse would turn out to be a bad idea. Not because of Jesse, but because of himself. And he still had a soda to hold onto. Really. He looked up at Jesse and grinned. "If it's not as kick ass as you said it was I'm never trusting your movie reviews again," he teased.

Jesse grinned back. "Fair enough, holmes, fair enough," he said. As the menu screen came up, he pointed to the thre options and explained. "This is three shorts from Asia's top horror directors. You've got 'ohmyfuckinggod disgusting', 'ohmyfuckinggod violence and torture', and 'ohmyfuckinggod creepy atmosphere'. It's like a horror-buffet. Aaaand ... going in order of favorite, we're doin' violence and torture first." He hit the buttons on the remote and propped his chin up on his arm, giving a good effort at not thinking about how he liked Bruce's neck. It was prime for nibbling. But that was just him, really needing to stop. Or get laid, one of the two. But stopping was more likely. Yeah. Movie.

Once the first film started playing, Bruce slouched back a little to get more comfortable. It wasn't very long before he'd set his drink aside and forgotten about it. He was completely engrossed in the movie and cringed at the especially horrific parts. It was like his tolerance had gone down. Or just that the film did not hold back.

It was probably more the latter. Jesse had specifically picked out the movie to give him sort of a crash-course in what Asian film was actually capable of when it came to being graphic. There was nothing like it in American movies, and probably never would be. So many of those movies that tried to be edgy could fuck right on off. About three hours later, they had been through some awful torture and dismemberment, then aborted babies being turned into dumplings that held the secrets of eternal youth, and then a dreamlike ghost-story. As the foreign-alphabet-credits of the last film rolled, Jesse looked over at Bruce with a grin, having rolled up onto his side with his head propped up on one hand. "Well?" he said, amused.

"Holy shit I'm making you test view every movie I want to see," Bruce said after a moment's pause. He tilted his head back to look up at Jesse, both eyebrows raised in left over shock and appreciation. The Asian horror film makers were the gods of horror. No doubt about it. And he doubted anything else they watched that night could even come close. "Definitely should've watched the good shit last."

He laughed and felt kind of stupidly proud of himself, for introducing something that Bruce actually dug. "I've got tons of it, if you wanna watch more," he said, sliding off of the edge of the bed at the side and padding around to crouch in front of the dvd player and switch out movies. "Some of 'em start out slow and just build into Fucking Hell, it's just ..." he trailed off, eyes focusing in on the screen in front of his face. The tv had switched to cable in the meantime, and there seemed to be breaking news going on, with a confused and worried-sounding reporter stating that there were animal attacks all over Marquette, and people were being seriously injured, especially around the hospital. Jesse's stomach sank a bit as reality intruded on their evening, and he twisted around to look at Bruce.

Bruce frowned at the news report. Breezy's line about him having to do a lot of ass kicking once he figured out she was right about werewolves came back to him. But it was obviously a bear or something. Something real. "I swear more bad shit has gone on in this town than any other one we've lived in. You'd think animal control or something would be on that damn thing. Or... things. Whatever," he said and shook his head. Real carnage and horror did not equal happy fun times. Bruce would prefer to stick to the fake stuff.

The corner of Jesse's mouth quirked ever so slightly at the idea of animal control having anything to do with taking down werewolves. And he was sorely tempted to correct Bruce, but he'd already not backed Breezy up on what she'd been trying to warn him about, and doing it now would a) look weird, and b) probably ruin their evening. Not that it wasn't being ruined for a bunch of poor people already. But it was dark and the moon was still up, and he couldn't risk pissing Bruce off or weirding him out enough for him to just ... walk out or something. That would be ten kinds of fucked up. "This town is pretty well cursed, yeah," he said instead, backing that up wholeheartedly. He picked out some bad cheesy horror at random and stuck it in the DVD player. Lighter, he needed something lighter. "You guys get a lot of bears in Utah?"

"I never saw any. Doesn't mean they're not there," Bruce said with a shrug. He took a sip of his soda, then set the can back off to the side again. So far as he knew his sister was doing some kind of sleep over thing with her girlfriends, so that made him feel better. Plus they all seemed to think it was a full moon problem so they weren't going outside or anything. He ran a hand through his hair. "Guess we shouldn't bother ordering pizza, huh?"

Jesse honestly would've been hella-surprised if there were pizza delivery guys out tonight. But even if there were, he didn't want to be the asshole having food brought to him when people were dying. "Nah, probably not a good idea," he agreed. He sat back again, on the floor this time, with his back against the foot of the bed as well, his shoulder close to Bruce's. He wasn't sure that he had much of a taste for horror any more tonight, but he could zone out well enough. "There's pizza rolls and shit in the fridge, though, if you want something." He looked over in a questioning sort of way.

"Cool. Thanks, man," Bruce said with a slow double nod. There was nothing like knowing people in your town were currently dying nasty deaths to kill your appetite, he thought. But Bruce figured he'd want something later probably, and eating without the guilt of pizza delivery guy casualties was definitely a good thing. Even if the entire animal attack thing just felt so far removed from Bruce's concept of reality. It was weird and more than a little disconcerting. And he didn't really want to go anywhere until it was daylight anymore. But it would be weird to ask to stay over. Now anyway. He tried to make his brain stop running fifty miles an hour and shrugged at Jesse. "Uh, don't want anything right now. But maybe later?"

"Sure, no prob," Jesse said, not having any sort of appetite himself. He wasn't sure if he was ever going to eat like a normal person again, the way things were going with the world at current. It seemed doubtful. He was silent for a moment, staring through the menu screen that had popped up without really seeing it. He kind of wanted to put in a stupid romantic comedy or something and just go to sleep. But sleep wouldn't do him any good, he was sure that his own need for escape from things would deter all the fucked up dreams he was bound to tune into tonight. After a second he blinked and glanced over at Bruce again. "You shouldn't be out driving," he said directly. "You should stay."

"Bree's got the van. Or Mad does. And uh... don't really want to walk home, you know," Bruce said, glancing up at the tv and listening to the very short loop of "music" playing without really paying attention to it. Then he glanced over at the couch. He'd stayed there once and it hadn't been a big deal. Tonight it was a bigger deal if he didn't stay. Bruce looked back over at Jesse, who he suddenly realized was really, really close to him. "Uh, yeah. Should probably stay. If it's cool or whatever." He looked up at the tv again.

Jesse nodded slightly, eyes still on Bruce's face. He kind of wondered if all the hesitation was because the guy wasn't into him, or was and didn't want to be. But he didn't have the brainpower to mull it over too hard that night. It'd just end up making him feel guilty for thinking about it when all kinds of crazy shit was going on anyway. "Definitely cool," he said a bit belatedly, looking forward himself. He hit the play button and dropped the remote to the carpet, ready to stare mindlessly at something else until hopefully one of them fell asleep. He seemed to keep glancing at the guy next to him, however, even though he was trying not to. Do you ever feel like your reality is falling apart? he asked him internally. Does that happen to normal people?

Even though he tried to be, Bruce just couldn't get into watching the movie. He was doing it anyway, his eyes on the tv screen, but he wasn't really following any of it. Eventually he leaned his head back against the footboard of the bed and stared at the spot where the wall met the ceiling. "Wanna play a game or something?" he asked, then turned his head enough to look at Jesse again. Bruce didn't really want to play a game either, but anything felt like it would be better than zoning out and falling asleep early on a Friday night. Even if it was a crappy Friday outside of Jesse's place.

"Sure man, throw in whatever you want. I gotta take a piss," Jesse answered, part of him kind of grateful for the chance to turn the movie off without looking like a puss. It wasn't scary, or even particularly -- realistically, anyway -- gory, but he didn't want to have much to do with horror tonight. Not anymore, anyway. He stood up, arm brushing unintentionally against Bruce's as he did so, and stepped around him to head for the door to the hallway. A moment to maybe rally his thoughts away from being so fucking dark might help, too.

Bruce only hesitated for a moment after Jesse left the room, then he leaned forward and was shuffling through game cases and trying to figure out which one might be fun. In normal circumstances they all would be. Tonight... tonight was just heavy now. In the worst way possible. He pulled Halo out of the bunch and just knelt there in front of the tv staring down at it. Maybe this was why his parents didn't want any of them to watch gory shit or play homicidally bent games. The reality of all that was too shitty. Bruce kind of wished they could just get drunk again, like at the bonfire, and laugh about stupid random shit until they passed out.

Jesse used the bathroom and splashed some water on his face as he washed up. He stared at his blurry, glasses-less reflection for a moment. He was doing a part, wasn't he? Keeping a friend safe? He couldn't decide if he actually wanted to explain to Bruce why he needed to be kept safe, or if that was the worst idea ever. It was kind of a compulsion, but probably one that shouldn't be followed. Especially when he ran the risk of Bruce getting disbelieving and disgusted and walking right out into danger. It just didn't ... feel like enough. Felt like he was trying to hide from everything and failing miserably. Because people were dying, he knew that. It was hard to keep a normal facade when that was happening. Maybe, with luck, they'd just kind of ... get tired enough to sleep. He dried his face off on his shirt and stuck his glasses back on, heading back for his room. "Decide on anything?" he asked as he came back in, tone a bit subdued.

"Uh... no, actually," Bruce said, looking up from the game cases with a sheepish expression. He'd stopped paying attention to the movie that was still running a while ago despite the volume still being on. He shrugged. Even the air somehow felt subdued. It was weird and Bruce didn't really know how to get past that feeling. "I don't know. Nothing sounds good or whatever."

The other blonde nodded a bit, understanding that, for sure. Nothing sounded good to him either. He stood there for a moment, trying to think of something to do in the middle of a mood that, if he was alone, would've had him just laying and staring at the ceiling. They needed something to make them sleep. Or at least get their minds elsewhere. "You get high?" he asked Bruce after a second. He'd gotten shitty drunk, so why not, right? Jesse had a bit of a stash. Pot wasn't something he went through a whole lot of, it was mostly for special occassions and nights when he absolutely had to sleep. And this seemed like one or the other of those.

"Never have before," Bruce said with another shrug and a crooked smile. He sat back up against the footboard again, this time with his legs stretched out in front of him. Of course he was pretty open to the idea. Had to get all that crazy experimental life stuff out of the way before college if he actually wanted to learn anything while he was there. "Why? D'you?"

"When I need to," he answered with a faint chuckle. At least he wasn't opposed. Jesse went over to root around in his sock drawer until he found a small baggie and a pipe. His parents were liberal and lenient, but not that much, so a few things still warranted hiding. And under the mattress was the domain of Other Things. He plunked down next to Bruce again and opened the baggie up. "It's not like, a regular thing, but I like to have it around. Helps me sleep, y'know? I am a shit-ass insomniac." He went about packing the bowl. "You won't need much."

"I think Nate's the same way. The insomnia thing. Always looks tired as fuck first period." Bruce watched what Jesse was doing, taking it in for now since it was new to him. He made a mental note to try to make up some decent dreams for his friends. And if he couldn't do a decent enough job, maybe Breezy would help him out with it. Even though he was kind of terrified that she might slip something into one for Jesse that Bruce would not be happy about. But that thought didn't stick for long. Sleep just seemed really important with all the shit going on in town. "I tried smoking cigarettes a couple times in junior high. Didn't exactly work out for me. Probably a good thing anyway," he added.

"There's a trick to it," he said, looking up at Bruce with a faintly amused smirk. "I fucking hate cigarettes, so don't worry, this is a lot smoother. But the trick is, you gotta pull some smoke into your mouth, and then inhale air with it, yeah? Don't try and drag a full inhale down all at once, you'll cough your ass off." He produced a lighter and put the pipe to his lips to demonstrate. He touched flame to weed and puffed a little to get it going, then sucked some and inhaled, holding the nice familiar burn in his lungs for a moment before exhaling. He offered the setup to Bruce, little smirk still in place.

"Feel free to laugh at me when I screw this up," Bruce said with a wry smirk as he took the pipe and lighter. The whole thing felt pretty stupid, instead of cool like he'd imagined, but part of that was because it took him a few tries to get the lighter going. He followed Jesse's example and tried his best to follow his advice, but he couldn't hold the smoke in for long before he coughed it back out again. "Fuck," he coughed into his arm and held the stuff out for Jesse to take back. Now his lungs felt dry and it wasn't exactly awesome, but it was kind of funny. "I suck."

Jesse couldn't help but grin a little. "Nah, you're just a noobcake," he informed Bruce, and took the stuff back. He took another few good tokes for himself and made sure to exhale in the other guy's direction. At least he could get a contact high, if he couldn't hack the actual smoking part of it. "It gets easier," he said, offering out the pipe again. "If you feel like you're going to cough, try and breathe in a bit more good air." They were going to need drinks, that was for sure. But he didn't feel like getting up to get them yet.

Bruce tried again, this time with a little more success and less coughing. He smiled at Jesse and wondered when he was supposed to start feeling high. Not that he'd probably know anyway since he'd never been high before. "Makes you wonder how people come up with this shit," he said and slouched down a little more comfortably. He tried taking another hit then passed the pipe and lighter back to Jesse again.

"Ancient experimentation, my good man," Jesse said, accepting the apparatus back. He smoked a bit more, getting to the point where he actually enjoyed the taste, and leaned back against the footboard with Bruce. Everything was always more comfortable when you were high. He tapped the lighter on the side of the pipe to break it up a little more and passed it back again. "'What is this shit? I dunno, let's smoke it, see what it does'. They were pioneers." He wasn't even sure who he was talking about, only that they were pioneers.

"You're like high already and I'm just pretending I know what I'm doing," Bruce said and nudged Jesse with his elbow. He took another drag from the pipe and still coughed a little. It wasn't burning weirdly anymore though, or not so much that he noticed it anyway. Breezy was going to flip out when he told her what had happened on his Friday night and wonder why the hell she hadn't been invited. That thought made him grin as he passed Jesse's stuff back to him again.

"Nah, man ... you're learning," Jesse corrected. He accepted the stuff and dragged some more. Things felt father away now, the darkness receding into comfort again. And thoughts of showing Bruce was shotgunning was. But that was no good. Even if it would be good, it was still no good. "And I'm just a little buzzed, no biggie. Like I said, don't do it much." He took another good solid hit and passed it back once more. "You feel any kind of heady yet?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know. Feel kinda normal," Bruce said, turning to look at Jesse. Of course he wasn't feeling worried about so much bullshit anymore, but the lack of bullshit running rampant in his brain didn't really register. He noticed he could actually see the smoke in the room and looked up. "Shit, are your parents going to freak?" It was a little late to be worrying about that, he realized.

That got Jesse to actually laugh. He wasn't sure why it was funny, it was a valid concern, really. It just struck him as funny at that second. "No, man, they don't ... really freak about much of anything," he said, grinning. After his pubescence and all the insanity that had happened then, they rolled with most anything. "At most, they'll like ... just lecture me. But later. If they smell it. They never have so far." Or if they had, they'd never confronted him about it. "Just chill, let it sink in." He leaned his head back and looked up at the ceiling himself.

"Cool," Bruce said with a nod. His own parents would have major issue with what he was doing then, which was why they preferred to be in the dark so far as their boys were concerned. Go out, be crazy for a few years while you could, and then somehow that made it okay to do that settling down thing later. At the moment it didn't make as much sense as it normally did. "So am I supposed to have like ...deep life altering thoughts or some shit? Cause all I got now is normal shit."

"Not s'posed to have or do or be anything, holmes," he murmured, still looking up at where his wall met the ceiling and the planes changed. "Just you and right here. ... what kinda normal shit you got goin' on?" He rolled his head so he was looking over, and was damned tempted all of the sudden to touch Bruce's hair. Just to see. But that was a line, most likely. There seemed to be too many of those. Stupid lines.

"Just family shit. Parents being weird. But that's normal for them, so... not really weird to me or anything," Bruce said and looked over at Jesse. For a long moment he just looked at his friend with a blase sort of smile. If he were someone else or had been raised with different family traditions and expectations, Bruce would've just taken a chance and leaned over to kiss Jesse. Then a really fake scream from the television pulled him back to Earth and he wondered how the hell he'd managed to tune the movie out completely. He glanced at the tv then down at his hands. Oh it was his turn again. He took another little hit off of the pipe and held it out to Jesse again. "I think it's out or something."

Jesse felt -- or thought he felt, which was pretty much the same thing when one was stoned -- the moment, and very nearly did the leaning himself. World be damned. They had their own little hole here, and that had been the intention, and everybody else could just ... fuck off. Which was a thought he would've probably been ashamed of if he hadn't been under the influence, but he was and he wasn't. He blinked down at the pipe and tapped the lighter against the side of it, shaking it around a little. "Yeah, all played out," he agreed with a slight tone of disappointment. "I got more, if y'want it." He groped around and found the baggie again, lifting it up with a grin that was more than a little goofy.

Bruce shrugged one shoulder slightly. He felt pretty good. A little spaced out, but not bad at all. Jesse's grin was infectious though, and he was grinning right back. "I don't even know if it's working or not. I'm a skeptic or whatever," Bruce said. He had a random thought about how his ancestors felt about getting high. Which only led to him wondering if they could get high since they were spirits and normally got sent messages via smoke. "Dude... you think spirits get high?"

The other blonde blinked once and then burst out laughing. Because that? Friends and neighbors, was hilarious. He fully believed in spirits, and the idea of transparent people -- or just shapes or whatever -- stumbling around and wondering where the fuck the pizza was cracked him the hell up. "Yeah, man ... pretty sure it's working," he said when he had some breath to do so, in between mad giggles. It even successfully distracted him from really really appreciating Bruce's grin. It looked good on him. "If you're wonderin' that shit ... you thirsty yet?" he asked, still cheesing himself.

"I had a soda," Bruce said after recovering from laughing himself. The idea of his ancestors in particular getting high was damn hilarious. And then he thought of Breezy and GiBri smoking out together and being rebel chicks and it was great. He looked around for his drink and found it peeking out from the side of the bed, but only one sip remained and he downed it. "Yeah I could go for something." He grinned at Jesse again. "We braving the stairs?"

Oh yeah, the stairs. "I'm feeling intrepid if you are, skillet," he said, grinning lazily back. God, he could just ... eat that. Shit. He moved in a delayed kind of way, climbing to his feet with some effort. "Fuck," he said expansively. "I completely need a fridge in my room. Like a whole pantry, too." He reached his hand down to offer to Bruce a hand for him to stand up too. And because he was very touchable at the moment, but that was besides the point. He was just helping a brother out, that was all. Yeah. On their quest for soda.

Bruce took Jesse's hand and was glad for the help up. Now that he wasn't sitting still it was easier to tell that he was in fact high. But it wasn't like being drunk at all. It was just... nice. Comfortable. Like he could hang out in Jesse's room endlessly. "Yeah. A mini fridge or something would be sweet." He nodded lazily. "We should get the pizza things you said you had too. While we're down there. Uh, when we're down there." He laughed a little, though it was a lot closer to a giggle than he'd ever be willing to admit.

"Sounds like a plan," Jesse agreed, and realized that he was still holding Bruce's hand. Which put a reluctant stop to that. He made a motion for the other guy to follow and headed toward the hallway, feeling nice and drifty. Which kind of put him at a wobble, but that was okay too. He shut the door behind Bruce and made some completely useless waving motions in front of it, as if to dissipate the smell. And then there were stairs! Lots of them. Goddamn, when did they get so many stairs? He walked quietly, and peeked into the living room as they passed, glad to see that it was dark. The parents had gone to bed. And then there was cool linoleum under his feet, and he was hunting down some more soda and the pizza rolls.

"Your house is so quiet," Bruce whispered, afraid that he'd break some kind of invisible rule if he talked too loudly. He was still thinking pretty random thoughts that all vaguely strung themselves together. It was like one big thought tapestry. And he started wondering if he could weave cooler dreams if he was high. He felt like his thoughts were more creative than usual so maybe it would translate. But the creative thoughts were also rambling along and not sticking very coherently. And involved a lot of questions. Like if spirits could get high, then would it be backwards feeling from how it felt when humans got high? And how could he convince his parents he needed a mini fridge? Because that just sounded cool as hell right then even if he had no need for one.

"That's what happens when people sleep," he said in a normal tone of voice, and with a giggle. They were kind of heavy sleepers, at least, so that helped things. Not that they really planned to have a super-loud party or anything, it was just nice for some semblance of privacy. He handed Bruce a cold can and popped the microwave open to make them some munchies. Crossing his arms comfortably over his chest, he leaned against the counter and half-smiled at Bruce. "Anything feel weird?" he asked, and uncrossed again to pinch lightly at the guy's arm. "Like, buzzy?"

"Nah, I'm good," Bruce said, his voice still a touch lower in volume than usual, and reached over to poke Jesse in retaliation. He watched the food spinning slowly in the microwave through the window in the door. For some reason he hadn't realized how damn hungry he was until Jesse had brought up the idea of fresh beverages. He took a long drink of the soda Jesse'd passed him, then set it on the counter. "Why? Am I acting weird or something?" he added, amused.

"Nah, I just always like that feeling," he told him, starting to pinch his own bare arms to feel it. Everything felt amplified, much more there and long-lasting. "Jerking off high? Oh my god, man, it's fucking heaven," he said before he could think any better of it, equally as interested in the spinning food. The microwave was taking forever, he was starving all of the sudden. He slurped from his can and continued to pull at the skin on one arm.

Bruce just burst out laughing and had to clamp a hand over his mouth to try to muffle the sound, because he just couldn't hold it back. The conviction in Jesse's voice was priceless. Maybe Bruce would find out for himself some time. Obviously not this time. No way. He leaned heavily against the counter as his laughter tapered off to snickering. "You've already got me convinced."

Jesse looked surprised for a half a second before he just grinned, his brain catching up with his mouth. In his little fantasy that was running along parallel with current events, he said something breathy and cliched like 'Here let me show you' and started making out with the adorable Bruce Barrow. It just translated into reality with him just grinning and watching him laugh. "Seriously, you should try it sometime, you for real won't want to do anything else with your time, ever, swear to god. If only one got paid for it." The microwave binged and he popped it open, pulling the plate of deliciousness onto the counter. "Without totally selling out your dignity, anyway."

"Maybe I shouldn't then. I'd have to drop out of school and shit," Bruce said with a lighter laugh this time, making an effort not to be loud. He eyed the pizza rolls but didn't grab one yet. It would be pretty pointless to burn his fingers or his mouth just because he was feeling impatient. He could see the steam curling up off of the little snacks.

Trying pretty valiantly not to picture Bruce in that sort of ... position, Jesse slurped down some more coke and waited for things to cool off as well. "Yeah, probably too much of a good thing anyway," he said with a lazy grin. "Y'know, it's never good when something you love turns into work." he nodded sagely. Because who didn't love to masturbate? C'mon now.

"I dunno. You think porn stars think like that? 'Golly gee, just another paycheck. I sure hate my boring job.'" Bruce broke into another fit of giggles right before he was about to take another sip of his soda. He managed to take a drink after calming a little bit.

"Who knows, they might be. With all the cameras and lights and fatass directors hovering around and shit ... I wonder if they get to pick their fluffers? Like if they can say 'no way, she's an ugly bitch, call that Christie chick'," he mused, really sounding like he was giving it some thought. As a mostly-virgin, the porno industry did hold some curiosity for him. "Or y'know ... Bob, if they swing that way."

"Bob sounds like a plumber," Bruce said in a suddenly serious tone, his face screwing up a little. And then, after a slight delay before the double entendre actually registered, he burst out laughing again and leaned over the counter sideways.

Jesse cracked the hell up along with him, some part of his brain quite aware of stupid it was, and yet it was completely hilarious at the same time. He had to lean on the counter himself, totally overcome with hysteria. Yeah, it was definitely good smoke. Once he'd recovered enough, he leaned up only enough to grab a pizza roll, blow on it, and stick it in his mouth, still snickering around it.

"No... no fluffers can't have unsexy names," Bruce said while trying to catch his breath again. He waved his hand for emphasis, then reached over to grab a pizza bite. It still felt pretty warm so he just held onto it for a little longer while it cooled. "They can't be like ... Ursula or Norman or whatever." He took a bite of his snack and was all right for a moment. Then put on a serious face again, this time on purpose. "'Hi, I'm Bob the Fluffer.'" And he was giggling all over again.

The psychic very nearly spit his mouthful of hot pizzaness out all over the countertop. He clapped a hand over his mouth and tried to balance laughing and breathing with the food in his mouth. He managed to swallow without incident, though he was kind of red-faced by that point. "No no no, you gotta do it lower. Like he's a big bear guy. Like '... hi, I'm Bob the Fluffer,'" he got out in a deeper manly voice before he started laughing again. "'I also plumb.'" And then it was just all over.

"I also plumb?" Bruce repeated between laughs, but it was hardly recognizable. He gave up and slid down the cabinets until he was sitting on the kitchen floor. "Fucking a, man. You're a fucking riot!" Against any better judgment that he might've had, he popped the rest of his pizza bite in his mouth and tried to finish it off while remembering that he couldn't really laugh, breathe and chew all at once. Luckily he was calm enough for the moment not to choke.

Sitting on the floor looked like an awesome idea, and so Jesse grabbed the plate and his soda and joined Bruce in doing that whole floor thing. "Your mom's a riot," he said between weak giggles, munching down on another pizza roll. He leaned comfortably, which put his shoulder up against Bruce's, but he couldn't be bothered to give a shit. It was comfy, and they were having a good time, so fuck it.

Bruce was all smiles now and he couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed like that. It felt good and he had no idea linoleum was so comfortable, but part of that might've been influenced by him and Jesse kind of leaning against one another. And there were pizza bites, which had never tasted so good before. He ate a couple more, musing over the best kind of names for fluffers and porn stars. "Now I wanna watch some porn and see if they put the fluffers in the credits. See if they have cool names or lame shit."

Jesse giggled a bit more. "Do they even have credits? I don't think I've ever actually gotten to the end of a porno," he said, munching down himself now that he'd quick laughing hysterically. "Fuck dude, I don't even ever follow the plots. Do you even have porn? Since you're not like ... allowed violent video games or good movies or anything." He looked over curiously, which was more like rolling his head so his face was closer to Bruce, a smirk playing with his lips.

"No, I'm like... porn free. Fucking sucks. Last time I watched porn was at my friend's place back in Salt Lake. But it was all internet downloads. Clips and shit he pieced together," Bruce said, amused at the memory of that choppy ass video with no sound. But it had been such a big deal because they might've got caught with it, and then they'd have both been screwed. In the bad way. Bruce was just glad that being high didn't mean he forgot to omit certain things, like the fact that it had been his boyfriend with the ridiculous porn vid. He was sure that if he'd been drunk he would've just spilled it without thinking twice until he caught himself. That just made him feel better though and he grabbed another pizza bite off the plate.

Was it gay porn? It was, wasn't it, 'cause you're just a big ole flamer, aren't you Brucey-baby? Just say it, c'mon. Say it, you know you want to. 'I'm gay.' It's not too hard. And then we can make good use of this high, you adorable bastard, Jesse's inner monologue coached Bruce. He chuckled to himself and slurped down some soda, not moving from his leaned position. "I've got tons of porn, if you've ever got a hankerin'," he said honestly, shooting a glance and a smirk over at the guy. It was all pirated off the internet, but it was full movies, at least. And of all kinds of flavors. He liked having vast horizons. Kept shit interesting.

"Shit. Seriously?" Bruce asked, his eyebrows shooting up. Jesse had everything any respectable teen guy could want. Or maybe Bruce was just used to living in a sheltered home. "You're like... fuck... the man with the hook up." Not that he would ever take Jesse up on that particular offer, but it was a nice offer anyway. It wasn't like he could get away with borrowing it and taking it home with him or anything. He finished off another pizza bite and frowned down at the nearly empty plate. "You got any more of these?"

Jesse laughed a little. "I'm just ... really not sheltered. It's all about freedom, man. To smoke up or watch a sausage fest and smack the bishop around, it's all good." He grinned stupidly and looked down at the plate. There had been more in the box, it would just require getting up to put them in the microwave. "Yeah, but they're frozen right now," he informed Bruce, and tilted his head to look up at the counter. Or the bottom of the ledge of it. It seemed so far away. "Goddamn lack of Jedi powers," he muttered.

"That's where you screwed up, man. Jedi powers, ha. You need Sith powers. Then you could like... force microwave those bitches and float them down here. Didn't you play KotOR?" Bruce said with a smirk and tilted his head back so it was pressed against the cabinet behind him. There was a decent game that his parents let him have. It had just lost its replay value a while ago. Too many text boxes to read and not enough action. "Come to the dark side we've got pizza bite things." He grinned at Jesse, knowing full well that was the dumbest thing he'd said yet, but it was amusing for that fact alone.

"Then you get the pizza things, oh dark Sith lord," he said, laughing all the same. Dumb was a-okay when you were high. It was preferred even. "I did the first round the hard way." He nudged Bruce with his elbow. Though he wasn't really keen on the idea of the guy moving, he was comfortable and warm. It was like a war between his hormones and his munchy stomach. A battle royale, even. They should really be somewhere more comfortable, though. Like the couch. Or his bed, upstairs. He kind of didn't want to fall asleep on the kitchen floor.

"I have this problem..." Bruce said and nudged Jesse back. "See, uh, I guess my dark powers are really fucking dark. Cause I kinda burn shit. In the microwave. Or like... it does that turning into a crunchy rock thing." He tried to hold back a smirk and keep his expression blank, but it didn't work at all and he started snickering again. Mostly because it was true. Bruce just didn't get along with cooking apparatuses.

Jesse gave an amused sort of bark sound, finding that absolutely, retardedly adorable. Which was just ridiculous, but he was coming to learn that crushes had no boundaries when it came to stuff like that. "God forbid you fuck up our snacks," he said, snickering a bit himself. Then struggled up to his feet with quite a bit of effort and using Bruce's shoulder for leverage. "I guess it's just up to me," he said with a put-upon sigh, and started to shake out some more pizza bites onto the plate.

"Good... apprentice," Bruce said and started laughing again. Because both of their names with Darth in front of them were just bad and totally hilarious. "I don't think 'Darth Bruce' is very terror inspiring. Need something cooler. And a light saber." He grinned up at Jesse and wondered idly if carpet was more comfortable than linoleum. Even if he didn't really want to move since he'd settled in nicely there in the kitchen. "Shit... I think half my ass is asleep."

"Darth Bruce and Darth Jesse of the Sith," he mused with a laugh. "No, not very inspirational in the terror department. You'd have to shorten it? Like ... shorter names are scarier. And they'd have to sound alien. So we'd have to go with like ... Ruc and Sej or something. Darth Ruc. 'Cause Bru doesn't sound good either." And he was rambling. Which he didn't seem to mind. He stuck the plate with the fresh batch of snacks into the microwave and offered Bruce a hand. "We can move where there's actually like ... furniture." Like back upstairs, maybe.