New Guy Approval

Who: Jesse & Bruce
When: lunch
Where: MSHS

Bruce realized about halfway through eating the sandwich his mom had packed for his lunch that he'd forgot to switch out his algebra book for his history book. He hurriedly finished off the sandwich and said bye to his sister and the other people they were sitting with. Then he headed off back to his locker to get the right book, because he knew he wouldn't have time to go back to his locker between fifth and sixth periods. He figured he could study Spanish some more, since it was one of the classes where the curriculum seemed to be in a different place from his last school. And foreign languages weren't exactly his forte. Once he'd switched out the books and reshouldered his bag, Bruce tried to figure out where he was going to settle for the rest of the lunch period. Going back to the cafeteria wouldn't be conducive to studying at all with how loud it was, and the library was too quiet.

Jesse had no desire to be in the cafeteria. Which was kind of his default setting. It was too loud, both physically and mentally, and he was the punching-bag for a lot of those fuckers, so. He was out in the hallway as usual, only not tucked into any corners. He was feeling restless, walky, despite not really having slept much the night before. He had his big headphones on, and his steps had picked up the rhythm to the song he was listening to as he strutted down the hallway. The only time he ever 'strutted' in school was when nobody else was around, so it was a good opportunity. His hands were up, fingers beating on an imaginary drum in front of him as he rocked out to himself. "Cryin' won't help ya, prayin' won't do you no good. Now cryin' won't help ya, prayin' won't do you no good," he sang along with Robert Plant in a high-pitched kind of way. His eyes were mostly closed and he was paying absolutely no attention to where he was going as he headed straight for Bruce.

Bruce heard the odd singing, but it didn't really register with him as anything other than somebody being weird. He was too busy glancing down at his watch and trying to gauge how much real time he had left to worry about Spanish before the class actually happened. He turned and took two steps before he ran right into the long haired guy with headphones on that he hadn't even seen till he looked up at the last possible second. "Oh, shit, sorry," he said automatically, then belatedly looked around for teachers. Cussing within earshot of them never went over well. Not to mention they didn't really seem to like it when students wandered around at lunch. Most of them anyway.

Aaaaaand there was impact. Not hard impact, but accidental human contact regardless. Jesse's eyes popped open, as he took that automatic step back. He saw his lips move but couldn't hear a damn thing, and laughed a bit. Awesome, he probably looked like the biggest idiot ever. He reached up to pull the headphones up, settling them on his temples instead, where he could still hear the faint Zeppelin kickassery. "Sorry man," he said to the guy he didn't recognize. Another New Dude? Maybe. There seemed to be a few of them around. And all of them seemed to be cute. "My fault. Didn't jar anything loose did I?"

"Uh, no, it's cool. My fault anyway, sorry," Bruce said with a small smile and a shrug, repeating the apology since he figured the headphones had blocked out his first one. Those were some impressive glasses the guy had on. And despite that, he wasn't bad looking, which only added to the slew of jumbled thoughts racing through Bruce's brain as the initial embarrassment of running into someone started to wear off. Two weeks at MSHS and he still felt so fucking out of place. "Uh, know anywhere decent to study or whatever? Anywhere not the library."

Yes, definitely new. "Anywhere not the library, check. Come with me," Jesse said, and gave him a crooked little grin. He moved around the guy and made a gesture for him to follow, heading further down the hall in the direction he'd been vaguely going in the first place. He stuck his hand out in the meantime. Might as well make introductions before his name was heard from other people, in all of it's poisonous glory in this goddamn school. "Jesse Jericho," he said, eyes ticking back up to the guy's face.

Bruce followed the other guy and shook his hand when it was proffered. "Bruce Barrow. Obviously one of the new kids," he said a bit wryly, then shoved his hands back in the front pocket of his hoodie. His mom had pulled a rare veto on his wardrobe choice that morning and forced him to wear a sweater because of the weather shift. It was one of the godawful ones she'd made for Patrick years ago, and the jerk had managed to pass it down. No way in hell was he taking his hoodie off until he got home, even if it was pretty nice temperature wise inside the school.

Bruce Barrow. Jesse decided he liked that. Like he liked his own. He wondered if Bruce Barrow had an interesting middle name. His hand was warm, at least, and that was nice. ... and it was pretty pathetic when you appreciated just a handshake on that kind of stupid level. Jesse tugged his 'phones back down so they were around his neck and tucked his blonde hair back behind his ears. "Yeah I figured," he said easily enough. "Welcome, though, if nobody's said it yet. They can be dickwads here." He led the guy around a bend in the hallway and continued on, a destination definitely in mind.

"Y'know... I don't think anyone actually has. Thanks. And, uh, yeah. Tell me about it. First person I really talked to was a grade A asshole. Wish I didn't have a class with him, but at least I can ignore his stupid ass." Bruce did a vague scan of the corridor as they walked and he talked. It wasn't like he was shouting, but the halls were pretty quiet during lunch. Some thoughts just couldn't be properly conveyed without mass amounts of cussing, though.

Jesse hardly noticed the cussing. It definitely didn't register on his radar of Shit To Worry About, as he did it all the time, regardless of who was around. He gave a chuckle, wondering who that was, but not bothering to ask. "Yeah, there's some real dildos at this school, you will come to find," he said. "Just take 'em as the single-celled organisms they are and all will be fine and dandy." He turned them down another hallway that was smaller and only had two doors to it. They were annex classrooms that didn't really get used often, but were almost always unlocked. He tried one and found it open, stepping in. "Voila, here we are," he told Bruce with a little grin. "Privacy, silence, and not the library. Nobody ever comes back here, so you should be solid."

"Awesome." Bruce's eyebrows shot up as he followed Jesse into the room, impressed with the guy's knowledge of the school. He put his backpack down next to one of the desks up front. "Quiet but not as creepy as the library. I should've brought my mp3 player or something, but I never think about it. At my last school they'd confiscate them as soon as they saw a headphone cord. And they were shirt tail Nazis. Like leaving my shirt untucked is going to prevent me from learning shit."

He gave a little snorted laugh, watching the other blonde get settled. Yeah, definitely cute. And not too badly cut, either, though he looked like he had something a little bulky on under the hoodie. "I couldn't live without mine," Jesse said, and it was truth. "Just can't wear it in class, alas and alack. Think I can learn more from Ray Charles than any of these teachers here, but it seems that my opinion isn't worth shit, so. Just gotta get through." A flash from the guy's life came through, just a quick one, of him more or less knee-deep in other kids that looked a lot like him. Big family, apparently. Lucky bastard.

Now that he'd found someone to talk to, Bruce wasn't really as interested in studying and just leaned up against the desk. He was definitely Breezy's twin in that he liked being social. It had just taken a little while for him to really push past losing something he was never meant to have. Or to push past it enough that felt like socializing and trying to make new friends like he'd promised himself and his sister he would. "Yeah I wish I could get credit for playing video games and basketball but that's never gonna happen." He grinned crookedly and scratched the side of his neck. He was feeling that familiar compulsion to ask if Jesse knew his sister, but he needed to quit doing that. But that instantly made him think of the week's big event. "Oh, uh, you hear about that bonfire tonight?"

He laughed again, this time at the idea that this was the second New Guy to invite him to a social event, and how that was just kind of funny. Like they hadn't learned the truth of him yet, or something. Even though Nate had turned out to be fairly cool. "Yeah I heard," he answered easily enough, moving to another desk to perch on, since it seemed they were going to be talking. He let his messenger bag slip off and put it down, sitting on the desk so that his feet were in the seat and his ass on the back of it. Uncomfortable, but he liked to perch on things for some reason. "Yesterday, got invited by another new dude. So I suppose I'll be coming, since that's two inquiries now. I'm assuming you're going?" he asked, arching an eyebrow a bit. He kind of hoped so. Having conversations with people who didn't hate him on principle was actually kind of nice.

"Yeah, I'm going. My sister helped organize it, so I was threatened with being dragged there if I didn't go willingly. And another new guy? Was it Nate?" Bruce said with a nod. And here he was momentarily thinking he was helping out by inviting a guy to the bonfire instead of yet another girl. Either way it was amusing and he was still smiling easily.

"Yeah, it was Nate," Jesse confirmed. Well cool, they knew each other. Hopefully word wouldn't really get to this guy about the weird-and-disturbing reading he'd done for Nate. It was just something that usually turned people off, and was hard to field questions about. Really hard. He didn't want to do any more of those for a while, he kept running into shit he didn't want to see about people. But that was his whole life. Everything he was getting from Bruce wasn't bad, however. Him playing video games. Basketball practice -- complete with shorts that he could really pull off, but that was beside the point. Burning a piece of paper with incense smoke in the foreground. Normal, everday kind of stuff. No monsters or guns. "So cool, I'll definitely see you there, then," he said with a smile.

"Definitely," Bruce agreed with a slow nod. He laughed lightly, though it was more of a humored exhale. "Yeah, not looking forward to the alternative. I don't want to be shoved in some guy's trunk and driven across town that way. My sister's got a funny idea of threats, but, hey, it worked." Really he was feeling much more himself today than he had in... well, weeks. He'd almost completely convinced himself that he was content to not have a secret relationship. After all, he didn't need that stress. Not really. It just made thinking about Danny even more bittersweet in a way, but he was dealing. And his walk around town and long chat with Nate the night before had really helped somehow. "Really, though, should be fun. So long as we don't all freeze our asses off." He left out the part about knowing there was a very good chance there'd be alcohol present since they were at school, even if they were the only ones in the room.

Jesse gave a short laugh. "What, is your sister in the mafia?" he teased with a bright grin. He got a comical flash of the guy all hogtied in the trunk of a car and then let out just to go to a party. "I'm sure we won't. With the combination of fire and booze, we're bound to stay warm." He could think of other ways to do that, too, but that was just sort of proof of how sad his life was at current, when it came to social, relationship type things. Being that they didn't really exist for him. But such was life and all that happy bullshit. "Think it'll be a time. If nobody sets themselves on fire by accident. Or on purpose," he added thoughtfully. That would be a bummer.

"Fuck yes, I haven't been to any parties since I moved here." Bruce was definitely looking forward to getting at least half smashed still. He wasn't even thinking about how the hell he'd get home or anything practical like that. Just that he wanted a final, or first in this case, drowning of his sorrows before he really tried to consider himself as having moved on. "And Breezy's just... determined. We're twins so it's just kind of natural for us to go to parties and shit together. Even though I've been skipping out on some stuff she'd been invited to." He shrugged since he knew he was starting to sound like he was moping again the more he talked himself down that path.

He didn't go into how many parties he hadn't been to. Or the ones he'd been invited to by girls on a dare, and hadn't gone. In fact, this was going to be the first actual party he'd tried in maybe a year and a half or so. He just hoped that since it was populated with new people, it wouldn't be too bad. "What's that like?" he asked, tilting his head a bit and looking at Bruce curiously. "Having a twin? I don't. Even like, regular siblings, I'm fresh out, so ... I dunno, I've always wondered. Do you read her mind and shit?" Wouldn't that be irony.

Bruce laughed a little. He'd heard that one before, several times. "It's pretty cool, actually. Bree's my best friend, and no matter where we move or how many times or whatever, I don't have to leave her behind because she's family," he said unabashedly. Breezy was his rock and he knew it. Without her he didn't even know what kind of person he'd be. Probably not a very good one. Or a really depressed one, at least. He braced himself against the edge of the desk with both hands. "I don't think I've ever read her mind or anything, but, I don't know, sometimes I just know when she's had a shit day or something even if I'm not around her. Could just be a sibling thing. I've got ten of them, so it's hard to tell."

"Holy shitballs!" Jesse exclaimed with a startled laugh. People still did that? Had like, whole football teams of kids? Jesus. The flash of memory hadn't been long enough for him to count them all, but hell. "Do you ever get the bathroom to yourself? Ten? I can't even imagine," he said, sounding somewhere between incredulous and impressed. "Your mom's a helluva woman, Bruce my boy." He chuckled and shook his head, retucking his hair behind his ears and pushing his glasses up on his nose a bit. "That's cool though. Twin-empathy. I always kinda wanted a sister, but mom and Scott didn't agree, and I guess I was enough for them to handle anyway." What with his so-called insanity and everything. He wasn't an easy kid.

And Bruce was laughing all over again at Jesse's colorful exclamation. "My mom's awesome. And, uh, there's never been all eleven of us living at home at once. Visiting, yeah, but not living there. Usually my parents get a place with three bathrooms, so it's not that bad. Plus the youngest two right now are still in diapers," he said with an amused smile. The logistics of living in such a full house were second nature to Bruce by now. He'd asked friends before what it was like being an only child or only having one sibling, but it just seemed kind of boring to him. And that was even without the fact that he didn't want to bother thinking about what life without his twin would be like. He'd be finding out soon enough. "I'd say you could borrow a sister since I've got four, but half of them are married and in other states. You should meet Bree at the bonfire, though, seriously. She's awesome and pretty damn hilarious."

"I'm sure I will," he said with an easy grin. The guy obviously loved his sister. Which was cool, he could get down with that. He would've loved on too, but it wasn't in the cards. Especially not now. But he pushed that little tidbit away and propped his chin in one hand. Now that they were talking about his siblings, Jesse was getting more flashes of them. Toddlers running around screaming, the whole lot of them laughing. It looked warm and like a good time. Which was awesome, so many people came from broken homes and were all fucked up. Another figure cropped up too, a male their age with dark curly hair, but only for a second. He just stuck out among the blondes. "Nah, I think my mom would kill me if I brought home a stray sister," he said, chuckling a bit. "I tried a puppy once? Didn't go over well. So I'll just live my big-family-life vicariously through you."

"Probably for the best. My mom would kill you too." Bruce laughed again and shook his head. He knew he could go on for a long time about his family if he wasn't careful. They were a big part of his life, of course, and it was easy to talk about them when the amount of them was such an anomaly to most people. But he knew a lot of people got bored with that kind of talk. "D'you game? Like, uh, GTA or Halo or anything?" Bruce was bound and determined to find the other gamers his age in town. He knew he couldn't be the only one.

"Does a bear shit in the woods?" Jesse countered, and laughed a bit. "Hell yes. Scott bought me a 360 for my last birthday, so I hope that was an invitation, because I am down for that shit." Yeah, sometimes he could be enthusiastic about video games. Despite his shitty eyes, he was pretty decent at first person shooters. Not that he had very many people to play with. Which made it even better, if this cute cool new guy liked to game. "I'm assuming you do? What's your pref, man?"

Hell. Yes. Bruce was grinning like a kid in a candy shop. "Dude, my parents are all conservative and shit, and uh, with all the moving around no way can I get any next gen consoles for who knows how long. But I've got an Xbox and a PS2. Mostly I play Halo, since it's the best FPS my parents will let us have in the house. I tried renting Resident Evil once and Dad flipped. Do you have San Andreas?" he said much faster than he'd been speaking, leaning forward a little in his eagerness. Today? Definitely a good day.

"Dude, you think there could be a beat-up-hookers-and-shoot-cops game and I wouldn't have it?" Jesse asked rhetorically, highly amused by Bruce's reaction. That was a good sign. A really good one that he liked. He got even cuter when he was excited. "You have to come over sometime, man. My parents don't give a sweet fuck about what I play, and my second controller has only been soiled by my stepdad's hands, so yeah. Come break it in for me." He grinned.

"You're a fucking life saver," Bruce said happily. He reached down and hoisted his backpack up onto the desk he'd been leaning on, then fished his phone out of the front pocket. He passed it to Jesse. No way was he going to let this opportunity slip by. "Here, put your number in."

He took it and started to thumb his number in, internally musing that this was the second number he'd picked up in as many days. He pulled his own cell phone out and handed it to Bruce along with his own back, making a gesture for him to do the same. Now he was actually kind of looking forward to this whole bonfire thing, maybe they could geek out together about video games.

Bruce dropped his phone back in his backpack before putting his number in Jesse's. It was an easy enough one for him to memorize, luckily, but his own and Breezy's were the only ones he knew by heart since they'd moved. He passed the phone back to Jesse with a smile still plastered on his face. "First thing I do whenever I move out of my parents' place? I'm buying San Andreas. I've played through a decent amount of it, but it's hard to keep track of a storyline or whatever when you only get to play at a friend's house, you know?"

Jesse tucked the phone, complete with Cute New Guy's number, back into his pocket and chuckled. "Yeah I know how you mean. I haven't gotten very far in it, honestly, but I love it." The position was starting to really hurt his ass, so he got up again, and stretched, arms up above his head. He got another vague flash of Bruce talking to the dark-haired guy and laughing, but it passed like all the other. Fish under water, they were like sometimes. Just quick and shiny. His back popped and he leg his arms flop again with a grunt. "So that's definitely a plan then," he said with a crooked grin.

"Definitely," Bruce said with a decisive nod. His eyes had trailed up to the clock on the wall, which was letting him know there wasn't that much time left before the bell. He checked his watch to see if it was even right, and unfortunately it was. He shouldered his backpack and straightened his hoodie so it wasn't choking him. "I should probably head off to Spanish. Might take me a while to get my bearings again and don't want to be late."

"Two lefts and a right, Bruce Barrow," Jesse said, chuckling a bit. He picked his own bag up. All in all, it hadn't been a lunch poorly spent. Quite the opposite, actually. He started to head for the door with his new compatriot, and gave him a friendly elbow-nudge. "See you tonight, yeah? At the shindig. Save me a beer or something." Who knew where that would lead, but he was at least willing to find out, with the company-likes of Bruce and Nate.

"Yeah, see you tonight, man. Thanks for showing me around," Bruce said as he exited the classroom, thinking about the simple instructions that would lead him back to the hall his locker was on. From there he could find his way to Spanish easily. "Oh, uh, just let me know if you need a ride or whatever. Bree's got a date to the thing with that Gabe guy and I'm pretty sure I'll get the van for the night." Whatever good that would do since he wasn't stupid enough to drink and drive back home. If nothing else he could crash in the van for the night. It wasn't like his parents would care. Which made him wonder what story Bree was selling them this time around. They'd have their stories straight before the morning, he knew.

Delectable, even if it was all on his head. But that was where the bulk of everything happened, didn't it? "Sure, if you're not totin' anybody else, man," he said easily enough as they headed back down the hallway. It wasn't like he had a car, and tonight was going to be cold. "I'll give you a ring and shit." He wondered if 'that Gabe guy' meant Gabe Winters, and halfway hoped not, for the chick's sake. Dude was an asshole. But then so were most dudes at MSHS. He flashed Bruce a grin as he got to the intersection of the hall where he was supposed to go the other way. "Learn good Spanish, chief, I'll catch you later," he said with a nod.

"Later," Bruce said with a crooked smile and a half wave as he headed off towards class. He didn't care how dorky it was, he was pretty damn excited to have found another gamer. And Jesse seemed like a cool guy on top of that. He knew he wouldn't even care when Bree said "I told you so" about him being social, because he was glad she was right.