"Heeeey, Lur. You busy?" The bary catches my attention from my dead angle, turning my head up from my phone, killing a bit of time before heading home, maybe hoping to catch a return message from Iris. Seems I've been caught by Jay, first.

"[Nope. What's up?]" Rings off the text-to-speech app I've got on my phone, answering the guy as I notice him step down to my level on the edge of the schools stairs.

"Oh radical, but you're not uh, waiting for Iris or something?" He's being weird about something. Jack doesn't really stop to think about anything, ever. And he's stopped to think about something right now. Oh he must have screwed the pooch beyond measure. I brace and check my texts, the latest to Iris.

"I'm about to head home." With no response yet. Looks like Jack's got whatever he needs help with locked into my Friday afternoon. Not my first choice of hangout but he's been a friend despite his tendency to turn his mess into a mess featuring one Lur K Moore.

"[Nope.]"

"Dope. So you headed home?"

"[Sure]" I shrug and start to rise, dusting off my pants as Jack slips right up beside me, waiting for me to start to pace. I ask him first.

"[Doesn't your mom usually pick you up?]" He looks away. I squint. Oh good he's managed to piss even her off. Well she's pretty reasonable, even if a bad influence. I wonder quietly as to what he's possibly managed to do to enrage her. First though is mean 'Vow of celibacy'. I hold back the snicker as he shrugs.

"Nah I told her I wanted to walk today."

It gives me pause for a second. Is he deflecting or just genuinely not in trouble. This is Jack, he's always in trouble for something. I roll my eyes and go ahead and ask as we start to walk.

"[Alright, what'd you do?]"

"What'd I- Hey! I'm not actually in trouble ALL the time, you know?" I get a nudge from him as he huffs a bit.

"[Yeah but you also don't really come to hang out with me alone unless you have.]" And a long, long pause from him. He goes into the think tank for it. Something I can't say I've seen him really ever do willingly. It stops me. Or better described I have to stop as I'm starting to lose him as he's using his entire brain power to think. I'm starting to get really worried now.

"You're uh, right. Sorry." Okay now I'm sure something's really, really wrong. The word 'sorry' does not exist in his vocabulary. Whoever this is that's killed Jack and replaced him isn't doing too good of a job imitating him. I let him know.

"[Who are you and where's Jack?]"

As I turn to look at him I notice he's looking away, smiling a bit but also strained. His eyes glance to me, then away.

"Just uh, Ellie pointed out how much we've been hanging out and everything you've done for me." Ah, sentimentality through sister. That tracks. I look back to him and start to glance down to my phone to type only to see him try to hold my attention. Okay.

His hands come up in front of him awkwardly. My eyes watch intently as they start to move. They're hesitant, slow and unsure. He...signs. In ASL.

"My. Name. Is. J. a. r. k." I blink a few times at his hands as I run the reality through my head.

He's kidding. He's...fucking kidding, right? I watch him repeat, more practiced. Same sentence. I look up to his face to see him half-smiling, half-shrugging. I have to blink a few more times, try to make sense of what my eyes are telling me. He looks a little lost but still locks his eyes on me.
I try to turn down to tap away some sort of incredulous statement but he waves his hands at me, gesturing for me to not do that, waving no and sorta...pointing at his hands, then at mine. There's no way. I glance around to see if we're drawing a crowd but find the little residential sidewalk empty aside from the both of us.
As I turn back I see him gesture again, more frantically. Mouth hangs slightly open as I go ahead and do what he seems to be asking. I sign back at him.

"You want me to do this?" I watch as his eyes intently gaze at my hands doing the gestures, jaw moving slightly as he's sounding out my signals. He manages it. My heart jumps.

He locks up though, looking down at his own mitts trying to think on something. I sigh and go for the phone.

"[You've been learning ASL?]"

"W-wait hold on. I mean-" He fumbles his hands more, managing the sign for 'Wait' but freezing again. I can feel the edges of my face threatening a rise.

"[Jack I'm not deaf. You can just talk.]" My phone turns his panicked fretting into a blank stare at my shoes.

"Oh shit, yeah. Hah." The usual groan that escapes me in these kind of moments is edged with a strange tenderness. He's really put out the effort to do this? Why?

As I go for my phone his eyes glisten at me, eyebrows used to gesture again. He's really done it. I sign again as he watches, mouthing the word as he goes.

"Why?"

He repeats it out loud. "Why? I mean you and Iris do it and I thought it was cool and thought maybe we could do it as a sort of secret code. And y'know it's easier for you than to type, right? Like speaking, sorta?"

I can barely keep the surprise from turning my face all manners of ways. He's a bit shy about the whole ordeal but it's...so much. As I mull over his words he keeps going.

"And I'm like, a super-genius so it was easy anyway. Only took like, a month. Another gold star on the docket and all." A month. He's been at this a month. My hand touches my face, covering my mouth. A tingling hits my heart. A sudden rush of reality hits.

I'd never considered that he might not see the way we interact the same way. He's a friend, albeit a bit of a goof but not one I'd ever consider annoying. Endearing. Maybe frustrating from time to time but he was always a friend.
Just hanging out with him was fun. I didn't- DON'T need anything from him. Just being integrated was enough but even still...
I quickly sign out my thoughts.

"You didn't have to do this."

He pauses, reading. "You...didn't...have...to...do...this. I mean, I wanted to. We're friends, right?"

The words hurt in a very comfortable way. Hearing him so nonchalantly open that box makes my heart beat hard.

I go again, "Yeah." He nods and smiles, but then scowls.

"Can you go a bit slow? It's kinda hard to keep up. No one to practice with." I can feel the makings of tears form in my eyes. I nod.

"Sure. Anytime." It's getting hard to stay composed. Hands shaking a bit as I slow down the motion.

"What was that second word?" He gingerly asks. I answer, speaking. Finding the want to be heard in that moment.

"Anytime."

He smiles, hard. "Yeah. Good word. Anytime. Same to you."

Son of a- I have to wipe my face to stop my eyes from wetting. Can't stop my lips from beaming, fully smiling with teeth on display as I feel a warmth. The sudden upwind of care hitting me like a truck while I try to recover.

"Oh you okay, Lur?" I have to wave my hands to keep him back as he steps forward, now concerned. I quickly sign a "I'm fine," then repeat, slower.

"Alright, just uh, let me know if you need anything. Really have to pay you back for tolerating me and all." The moron gives me a deep shit-eating grin, knowing just how obnoxious he can be. I manage to keep myself from turning into an emotional wreck as he helps wrangle the conversation back to jovial.

I match him. A bit out of my comfort zone but I want to say it to him right there. "You wanna learn a fun word?"

He nods, "Sure. Lay it on me."

I sign, he watches, then repeats. I smirk hard as he questions. Phone tapped on as it reads out the line.

"[Trigga.]"

Massive and toothy he grins, "Really?"

I beam back and sign. "Really."

He laughs, performing the awful thing I'd just taught him. I'd feel guilt at knowing he's gonna get in trouble with Sera within the day but can't help myself. A few more little signs as he joins me again, the two of us idly chatting as we go on.

Edit

Pub: 21 Aug 2025 09:41 UTC

Views: 9