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[rattlingthestars]

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[rattlingthestars]

That feels really good.

[ Way to keep asking him about his trauma when he's really distracted, Zell. ]

The fruit -? Oh.

[ Right, that. ]

Overheard Silver telling the others that he'd just been distracting me. [ And... not really getting into that. ] And then we arrived at the planet, so they decided to get the party started right then. I had to stab Silver's fake leg to get out of there.

[swatsflies]

Here? [ He murmurs the question as he continues his ministrations on Jim's back. As Jim talks, he shifts close to Jim's neck again. He recalls the leaking black stuff from their encounters with the monsters. Lips pressing gently on the underside of Jim's jaw. ]

Good job escaping. [ He really is glad Jim got out. Just how much danger was Jim in? He's also wondering on that distraction part. Silver saved him in the end. Jim is wonderful and a blast to be around, so it makes sense that anyone would grow attached to him. Silver had to care to save him, right?

Zell isn't sure he wants to stick him in that category though. Jim doesn't think himself worthy. His eyes watered up from Zell telling him he matters. The inability to really put Silver in any box isn't settling well in Zell and he really hopes he never has to meet the guy. He would love to punch him one and be done with it, but what would that do to Jim?

Rubbing the crown of his head against his boyfriend as he breathes him in. It's been a few days since they came across the house with a bath tub and pierced Zell's ear. He thinks he can still smell the soap ever so faintly there on Jim. ] How much of the crew were in on the party?

[rattlingthestars]

[ Jim doesn't answer Zell's first question in words; instead, he wiggles until he's positioned perfectly for Zell to get at that spot on his back. He has to smile a little as Zell asks another question; his boyfriend really is bad at taking turns. Maybe he should release him from the agreement, but... when else is he going to get the chance to ask all these questions himself? Anyway, it takes some of the heat off Jim telling this story. They're well into the worst of it now. ]

-Whole crew. Doppler hired 'em through Silver, they were all his guys. In the end, it was jut me, the Captain, and Doppler that escaped to the planet, and the Captain was injured.

[swatsflies]

[ Why are you wiggling, Jim? Stopping for a moment as he really tries to avoid thinking bad thoughts as he swallows hard. Once Jim is ready for him, he starts rocking his palms against the spot.

Sorry, boyfriend. He really, really wants to know. The more he hears, the more he counts his lucky Stars because Jim is still there. Jim is still alive and in his arms. ]

Whoa. [ This is probably a big part of why it takes time for Jim to warm up or even trust a person. Not just the betrayal of Silver, but the whole crew. ] How did she get injured and how did you guys escaped? [ Give him deets, man. ]

[rattlingthestars]

You sure you want to hear about all this, Sunshine?

[ That counts as a question, right? Jim's going to let it count, otherwise Zell's going to run out of embarrassing stories to tell later.

That's what he tells himself, anyway, as he hesitates over the rest. There are parts that are a complete blur, but all the ones with Silver stand out a little too sharply in his memory. ]

Doesn't seem like a fair trade for the back rub.

[swatsflies]

I can throw in a few kisses, too. [ He'll gladly have any excuse for more kisses. Zell leans back to let Jim see his expression. ]

Yeah, I'm sure. I want to hear it all.

[ SeeD honor! ] It is about my best friend and boyfriend.

[ His favorite person in all of Snowhell. A part of him niggles at the fact that Jim might think he wouldn't want to hear about it. That it might speak to Jim's self esteem issues again. ]

[rattlingthestars]

I meant you were giving more than you're getting. For this part. It's not as good as finding a treasure or escaping a black hole.

[ Jim kisses him anyway, for courage. ]

-Or saving the world.

[ Jim's best friend had a much better story, in Jim's opinion. ]

But - if you want to hear it. We just made for the long boats as quick as we could with the map. They were trying to shoot us the whole way, and trying to shoot the longboat out of the sky - someone must've got the Captain during all that. She held it together until we crashed on the planet, but... couldn't exactly walk.

[swatsflies]

[ Oh. He reaches up to comb his fingers through Jim's hair. Chasing the kiss with another. Massaging his scalp as he plants a kiss against the tip of Jim's nose.

He nods enthusiastically at the wanting to hear it, but keeps quiet as Jim speaks. He's being good. Playing with his hair and feeling the difference in lengths. ]

Guessing they didn't really give you a break after that. [ Especially since they had the map that's needed. ] What happened next?

[rattlingthestars]

No, it all started going pretty fast after that. [ Jim half-smiles. At least the next part wasn't so bad - he'd made another friend. ] The captain sent me out scouting and I ran into this guy - B.E.N. He was Flint's navigator and he'd been stranded on the planet for a hundred years. And -

[ And Jim wants to draw out the good part a little while longer. ]

-you owe me another question.

[swatsflies]

[ This guy Ben who was stranded for a hundred years, huh? How can someone live for that long?

Jim did say he knew a robot around the time they found Dumpy. That was right before he died...

Feeling along his spine as he smiles. Pressing a kiss against Jim's shoulder. ]

Yeah, I do. Hit me with you best shot, baby. [ His voice is warmed by affection. ]

[rattlingthestars]

Heh. [ Jim taps the side of Zell's head and makes a little laser noise. ] Bam.

[ He has to think about it for a moment; he'd got too wrapped up in his own story. ] -Tell me something about the garden that you haven't told me before.

[swatsflies]

[ Chuckling at the gesture and sound. Isn't is supposed to be blam blam. Turning his head to jokingly try to catch the finger gun with his mouth. Missing on purpose as he resumes the back rub. He knows he skipped over quite a bit when he shared his story with Jim. ]

Something bad, happy, or weird? [ There is a pause as adjust his hands to start tracing out the map of the Garden in his back. ] When it was still stationary, the entrance faced south. [ Starting low on Jim's back and skirting close to booty territory. He travels up the spine and starts drawing both sides of the circle. Pausing on Jim's left to draw a branching path. ] This is the infirmary.

[ Moving up on Jim's right side to make a branch. ] Library.

[ Left again. ] This is the Quad. It's where the summer festival usually takes place.

[ Back to the right. This path leads to another looping circle against Jim's side. Pressing a kiss against his cheek as he purposely pokes a tickle point. ] Training center.

[ Left, which is high up by Jim's shoulder blades. ] Cafeteria.

[ Bringing both hands together at the base of his neck. Walking his fingers up into Jim's hair. ] And this is where the dorms are. [ Kneading the back of his head. ] There elevator is in the middle. It takes you up to the class rooms, the ballroom, and the headmaster's office. Going down takes you to where the Garden Master used to be.

[rattlingthestars]

[ When Zell misses, Jim decides to just poke the side of his nose instead. That's affectionate, right? Right.

Instead of answering the question, Jim's paying attention to the map, trying to form the loops on his back into a coherent picture in his head. Later, he'll try to draw the place out into his sketchbook; it sounds huge, a lot different from Jim's school, though at least Jim recognizes all the words for the individual parts.

The poking of one of his ticklish spots makes Jim squirm and quietly object. ] Zell

Your school had a ba- [ No! Not the question he wants to ask, though seriously, what the hell? ] - How's a Garden Master different from a Head Master?

[swatsflies]

[ He'll take it as affection. Laughing at the poke as he starts tracing down Jim's back again. Going to the middle of the circle he drew to rub the center. ]

Jim. [ Kissing his ear. ] Garden Master is- was the proprietor of Balamb Garden. Cid didn't have the money to start up Garden, so he partnered up with this greedy Shumi named Norg. Man, he looked pretty weird. More frog than Shumi. He had this big throat pouch that went almost down to his frickin' knees! [ Exaggerating, but maaaan it came really close. ] He was a greedy bastard.

[rattlingthestars]

Pretty ugly guy, huh? [ Jim wants to know more, but he also doesn't want to give out any embarrassing secrets just yet. Zell has plenty of time ot figure out what a dork he is without Jim going and volunteering the information.

Not being a dork is kinda ruined by the way Jim uses his hand to make a little throat sack on Zell's neck and expand it with a little 'ribbit.' sound. ] Your turn.

[swatsflies]

[ He laughs at Jim's imitation. ] That's pretty close. He's very ugly. Man, I can still hear his voice yelling about colors. [ He'll get the embarrassing secrets some day. For now, he thinks about it carefully. Where were they?

Oh. Oh yeah. ] What happened next in your story?

[ It's BENeficial for Zell to know. He's hooked. ] You met Ben and then what happened?

[rattlingthestars]

Colors...? [ Jim shakes his head and mentally adds that to the list as he clears his throat. ]

Then he took us back to his place. It was crazy looking - everything on the planet was. Weird shape and writing all over that Doppler thought an ancient species wrote. You would've figured it out. [ There was a lot of history there. Or, at least, a lot of stuff older than anything Jim could imagine. ] But it's all gone now, the whole planet is.

Anyway. [ Jim looks up to study the stars projected on the top of the tent. ] - After that, the pirates show up. Set up camp and start trying to shoot at us, until Silver wants to negotiate with me 'cause he thought we still had the map. Didn't know we'd accidentally left it up on the ship.

[ But that's enough for Zell for now. ] What did Frog Guy get out of founding the school?

[swatsflies]

[ He would have given him a freebie then he's thrust back into Jim's story again. Zell listens as he continues tracing shapes and designs against his boyfriend's back. Brightly smiling at the mention that he thinks he would've figured them out.

While he looks up, Zell's attention moves down Jim's neck.

So, they didn't have the map. Did it fall during their escape? It sounded like Jim was sure they had it. Mulling over these thoughts as the frog guy came back. Zell ducks down to press a kiss against Jim's pulse point in his neck. ]

All missions went through him and he kept a large part of the prophet. He was pretty angry when Cid took on some missions behind his back.

[ Kissing his chin. ] How did negotiations go? [ It comes out before he can really think it over. ]

[rattlingthestars]

Shouldn't you get most of the profits? They're not the ones out there risking their skins.

[ The thought of it's clearly annoying Jim, judging by the way his eyebrows scrunch. As far as he's concerned, Zell - and his friends - should get all of it.

He winces and buries his face in Zell's shoulder again at the question. It's comfortable there, he likes it. His answer is a little muffled: ]

Negotiations, uh. Negotiations went badly.

[ And he's tempted to leave it like that. Technically he answered the question, right? But it's not really fair to Zell, who wants to know all of this stuff. ]

That was when I realized how full of it he was, when he tried to convince me to join him again. Told him I was going to stick to it, just like he taught me, and walked away.

[swatsflies]

We still get paid pretty well.

[ Well, he does considering his rank. Jim has been angry for him, argued against Beckett for him, and is now annoyed for him. He shouldn't be as happy as he is, but he's really happy. ]

More money should have gone to the school instead of his frickin' grubby hands. [ They could have been closer to Galbadia for resources then. Even if he didn't really care about the place.

The motion of his hands went from deliberate designs to rubbing in a reassuring way as Jim buries his face against him. It's nice feeling him so close. He's still staying on him and he's glad Jim is still sharing.

And sharing when he became disillusioned by Silver. Zell could almost picture Jim telling the anomaly version of Silver to basically blow it out of his rear. It was likely a shitty moment for his boyfriend, but he still feels pride welling up inside of him. That Jim stood up to someone who tore away his trust and betrayed him. ] Good job, Stars. [ There is a clear note of pride as he adjusts his arms to hug his boyfriend tightly. ]

What happened after that? [ Cause Jim did ask a question. ]

[rattlingthestars]

[ Technically, Zell. He technically asked a question. His grip eases a little, and he's willing to come out of the safety of Zell's shoulder for this part. It's one of the better parts of the whole sorry mess, anyway, though that's relative. ] Thanks. [ He shouldn't be surprised by the 'good job,' but he is, and it makes him feel warm where before he was cold. It'd been the right decision to share all this with Zell. ]

- I went back up to BEN's place, Silver went back to camp. BEN ended up showing me a way out the back and we used it to sneak back on board the legacy, looking for the map. Would've worked, but Scroop was up there and he caught me.

[ Jim eases his grip, enough to climb out of Zell's lap and offer his arms instead. ] Lay down with me? And that's not the question.

he can make other things warm ;D

[swatsflies]

[ He's going to take it. It's only fair, right? He's happy that Jim is coming out of hiding. Giving a quick cheek smooch at the thanks. No thanks is needed for telling the truth.

And Scroop again. He opens his mouth to ask if this is when he tried to kill Jim, but soon closes his mouth. Already missing the warmth of Jim being on him as he takes his arms. Instead of answering, he's going to pull Jim down as he lays back. ]

Better? [ Grinning as he waits for his boyfriend to get settled. ] That's not a question either. [ Snickering as he says that. ] Your turn.

short sorry

[rattlingthestars]

Why was Cid taking missions behind Ribbit's back?

[ Jim asks as he settles in beside Zell, comfortable on his back where he can look up at the fake stars. ]

it's okay <3

[swatsflies]

[ Shifting to lay on his side to face his boyfriend. Propping his head up on his elbow as he places his other hand on Jim's stomach. ]

Sometimes he took on missions for free because it's the right thing to do. [ Which means Ribbit doesn't get paid. ] My first job as a Seed was to help liberate a town for free. [ Drawing out the shapes of a train across Jim. ]

The other one was in collaboration with another Garden for an assassination mission.

[rattlingthestars]

Assassination mission?

[ Yep, Jim will totally spill an embarassing secret if Zell wants to hold that or anything else against him later. He twists and sits up a little so that he can get a good look at Zell. For all he knows that Zell's powerful and capable, it's still strange to think of him taking a life outside the heat of battle. His hand finds Zell's and strokes over his knuckles. ]

Edea?