trans_9 | Cheer up emo teens

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Cheer up emo teens

Cassie deliberately kept away from Jonas and Nate. She needed to sort things out and seeing either one of them would just make it even harder. Now she just had to find her boyfriend. This could go two ways, either it would be really easy and he was keeping a close eye on her or this would be really hard and he was avoiding her. She was betting on the latter.

Now, if she were an android angsting over identity issues where would she be...

This would have been so much easier if she'd paid any attention to what the original Vision did whenever she visited the Avengers Mansion.

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Jonas would not have said that he was avoiding Cassie. He would have said that he was avoiding Nate, and allowing Cassie to avoid him in the meantime.

He currently had himself stashed away in the corner of the Medbay, where he could quietly teach himself how to play go. No particular reason, just something to keep his surface thoughts busy while deep down somewhere that he was only barely aware of, his mind worked on what he should say to his brother.

There he was. This was just about the last place she'd look for him (in fact, it was). She was starting to get worried.

"Hey." Cassie smiled as she approached Jonas.

That was a good sign, right?

Jonas glanced up and smiled back, flicking off his screen. "[Hey yourself,]" he answered, trying to read her face. That did not look like a nervous smile, which hopefully meant that she was not bearing bad news.

He adjusted his position so that she could sit next to him, if she so desired. "[How are you settling in to the new beds?]"

Cassie did indeed sit next to him, settling close. "I miss actual beds like we had at home but I've gotten used to them." ~~Want to try them out?~~ "I guess you don't use them, do you?"

"[I would imagine that they are more preferable than the cubbies,]" Jonas said, draping an arm across her shoulders. "[And no, I do not really need to sleep. I was rooming with Billy, but then with Teddy revealing himself...]" He shrugs and paints an expression of innocence on his face. "[I thought they might prefer to be 'roomies'."

Cassie leaned into Jonas. "Yes, I think they might. I'd offer to change room mates but uh, I don't know how well that would look. Probably best that Kate and I stay roomies." A pause. "So do you want to talk now or later?"

Jonas chuckled a little, then sighed.

"[I think it would be best to do it now,]" he said. "[No point in putting it off longer.]"

He did not think she was going to break up with him. She had not been acting like it...

"You don't have to worry cause I'm not breaking up with you. I want to make sure you know that." Cassie put her arms around Jonas. "And I care about Nate but I love you. You've always been there for me and you have no idea how much that means to me."

Jonas kissed her, partially because he was relieved and partially because sighing in relief would imply that he had thought that she might break up with him; which, while accurate, would have been rude.

But mostly, he kissed her because he liked to.

"[I love you too, Cassie,]" he said, cupping her face in his hands. "[And you have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that.]"

See, she knew he was worrying about it.

Cassie leaned in and kissed Jonas again, wrapping her arms around his neck. She wanted very much to just- not think for a few moments. And she wanted very much not to think about what she had to say next. But she had to.

She pulled away and rested her head against his shoulder.

"I'm really worried about Nate."

Yes, this was where The Talk started.

Indeed he had been. Now he could put his worrying to better use.

He stroked her hair, frowning thoughtfully.

"[What about him?]"

"He's just been so angry and he has been working on that with meditation but I don't think it's enough. And he has his memories back now but I don't know if it's enough especially after..." A shiver ran through Cassie's body and she closed her eyes. "After- I saw what happened when he went back. Stacy was going through his memories in the Sensorium and after he was sent back it kept going."

Jonas' hand paused mid-stroke, and he sighed before resuming again.

"[Kang told him what would happen,]" he said. "[He has every right to be upset. But if you are worried, we can certainly keep an eye on him. There may be counselors of some sort on board as well.]"

Cassie kept her eyes closed as she forced herself to say the next few words. "I just... don't want to make things worse."

"[Understandably,]" Jonas said. "[I would imagine that it was a horrific experience.]" He had the feeling that there was something she was not saying, although he was not sure what that was. "[Is there something that you would like me to do?]"

"I don't know." Tell me I'm not going to make him Kang out on everyone. "You should probably talk to him about... things."

A long pause.

"I really don't want to hurt him."

"[I should,]" Jonas acknowledged. It was more a matter of "when", which was in Jonas' case, hopefully not for awhile. "[I will.]" Eventually.

He kept stroking her hair and pulled her a little closer. "[He knew that you were dating me before he regained his memories,]" he said reassuringly. "[I doubt that he expects you to break up with me to be with him.]" He hoped. "[In any rate, many teenagers break up, and most do not become supervillains because of it.]"

"Most teenagers haven't had their throat cut and nearly choked on their own..." Yeah, could you tell she was really shaken up about seeing that played out in the Sensoriums, Jonas? Because she was.

"[No, they have not,]" Jonas agreed. He pulled her onto his lap and kept stroking her hair. "[I will talk to him. I promise.]"

Cassie held him a little tighter, shifting just a little against him as she settled into a comfortable position on his lap. Well, a more comfortable position.

"Thanks. I- I know we would have had to and I know it's in the past but- if I had to do things over again, if I knew that was what Nate was going back to, I don't know if I could have let him go, even with Billy and Teddy... Does that make me a bad person? Or- or weak or..."

There had been so much blood. He had looked so scared, so helpless, so alone.

And she couldn't help but feel responsible.

"[It is an understandable feeling,]" Jonas said. He felt this was a fair answer, all things considered. "[But you are a good person, and I know that you would have done the right thing, in the end. You simply would have felt much worse about it.]"

He tilted her chin up with his fingertips and kissed her again, gently.

Cassie was glad Jonas was so sure about it because she certainly wasn't. Especially now that it didn't even matter what they'd done. Their reality fell apart anyway.

She kissed him back and pressed closer against him.

Thank God for distractions.

He was sure. He knew that she was not perfect, like he had used to tell himself, but he knew that she was a good person. He also knew that Nate was a good person, and would have gone back with or without Cassie's permission. He was glad that Nate had been able to have her permission though, and that she had not known what he was going back to.

Thank God indeed for distractions. Jonas settled himself a little and combed his fingers through her hair as he kissed her again.

"You." Cassie stroked down the base of Jonas's neck and leaned in for another kiss. "Are wonderful." More kissing. "And I love you so much."

Nate had come down to the medbay to look for some painkillers. Or ask Stacy for some. He had a migraine. He'd been having migraines almost constantly since the day he'd had his memories jump started again. So as he stepped into the medbay and started poking around. Well, he hadn't expected to see his friends in their rather passionate embrace.

Eyes widening a moment, he tightened his jaw and turned around to leave. They deserved some privacy after all. ~~Though they should really have just gotten a room.~~ As he turned quickly on his heel however, his leg caught a little table, sending the tray of implements that was on top of it clattering to the ground loudly.

He sighed, bending down to pick up the instruments, keeping his back to the pair. Really great, Nate.

That was enough to shock Cassie out of her reverie. She practically jumped out of Jonas's lap. "Nate!" This was so not how she wanted things to go.

Jonas had been preparing to dip Cassie and say something romantic to her in kind when he was abruptly reminded that they were technically in a public space.

And that the ~~universe~~ Omniverse hated him, because Nate was the source of the interruption.

"[Er.]"

Nate finished clearing up the mess he'd made. Setting the tray back on the table and rolling the thing out of his way. He needed to work more on that peripheral awareness thing. Now it was just awkward. Clenching jaw once, he shut his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath and turning around, plastering a smile on his face. Even though his every instinct was telling him to just leave without saying anything.

Raising a hand to the back of his neck in feigned embarrassment, he offered his friends a lopsided ~~fake~~ grin. This whole situation really wasn't helping his headache.

"Eh heh. Sorry guys. I was just looking for some painkillers. Headache." He pulled wry face. "Though, pull a curtain shut or something, yeah? I mean, everyone can see you."

His lips lifted at the corners for a moment as he forced his tone to remain casual, teasing.

"I uh- I'm sorry." The way she was looking at him said she was a lot more than sorry. She felt terrible. She really cared about Iron Lad and if Jonas weren't here...

But Jonas was here.

"[The mistake was ours,]" Jonas said, rising to his feet as well. "[Let's see if I can help you find those painkillers.]"

All right, he was not necessarily good at emotional situations, but he could certainly recognize what was going through Nate's head. They used to share that head, after all; and he knew what he would do in a similar situation.

...Admittedly, he would have sneaked out with a bit more grace, but he could alter his density.

The first thought that went through his head was that ~~OMG Jonas just used a contraction!~~ he would have been so pissed if he'd been interrupted. He could only imagine what Jonas felt. Maybe he could suppress his emotional programming? Did he have any? Hmm...

"Yeah, that sounds good. Feels like my head's splitting right down the middle, you know?"

Well not all of us can be super advanced suits of neurokeinetic armor from the far future, can we? No, because if we could we'd all have very attractive size-changing girls to accompany us. ~_~ No, Nate wasn't bitter at all. No seriously.

"[Oh yes,]" Jonas said. "[You are not feeling ill otherwise, are you?]"

He could completely sympathize with the headache. He had experience Victor Mancha's pain when the cyborg had been ripped to shreds by the cape-hunters during the civil war. Having his own arm ripped off by Noh-Varr had not done him much good either, although he had eventually been able to both retrieve it and set Noh-Varr straight. Or at least, set him on the disgusting man running the Cube.

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