Tonight was a good night for a certain Jeff Andonuts. Although one would not make such an assumption if they were presented with such a scene. It was raining in the grand city of Fourside, and heavily at that. He managed to find a rather large tree not too far from the hotel he and his companions were staying in. The tree did a surprisingly good job at covering him from the heavy rain, save for the occasional droplet landing on his head and coat, it wasn't enough to bother him however, as he produced a pack of cigarettes and a cheap lighter from his coat pocket.
He had just finished inventing a machine called the Shield Killer, if his calculations were correct, then this shield killer should be able to remove all shields, PSI or otherwise from anyone that would be stupid enough to fight them. Inventing always made Jeff happy, the more useful of an invention he would make, the more happy he would be. Since the Shield Killer by a landslide was the most useful invention he's made so far, he decided that he deserved to treat himself to a nice post-invention smoke.
Well, that isn't entirely true. Jeff knew it should be that way, and it was at first, but as his nights spent inventing increased, so did his addiction to nicotine. Somewhere along the line, he had become quite the avid smoker. The thought of being addicted troubled him at first, he didn't like the idea of not being in control of anything, especially his own body, but he eventually got over it, as it didn't really matter to him. He wasn't athletic at all, so if his lungs went to hell, it really wouldn't make much difference. Inventing was his passion in life, the most he needed from his lungs was for them to work somewhat decently. Sure, it really sucked for those times he had to run away from an enemy that was too strong, but again, it really wouldn't have mattered, as he certainly wasn't in shape before smoking.
He lit his cigarette, making sure to cover it with his hand so no raindrops would fall on it and ruin his night. With the first puff of his cigarette and a sardonic glare upon his visage, he surveyed the streets of Fourside in front of him. For such a big city, there really wasn't much to see. Although that might have something to do with the fact that he was currently outside in the heavy rain at approximately 4:00 in the morning. Regardless of the reason, tonight the city's streets was as asleep as the people that lived inside it. It was somewhat depressing really. When he first set foot on this adventure, he expected it to be much more interesting. In some regards, he was not disappointed, as he had met many quirky people that he could've sworn came right out of one of those RPG video games people his age were playing. What he didn't expect was how dangerous it turned out to be. When he saved Ness and Paula in Threed, they were on the brink of starvation, since then, the injuries have gotten worse. Ness broke his arm once while fighting a few starmen, Paula received a few nasty bruises at the hands of Master Belch, even Jeff himself; who opted to stay behind Ness and shoot the enemies with whatever gun he had on him, received a pretty nasty gash across his chest at the hands of some crazy hippie with a ruler.
What a joke, it took a giant psychic, sentient pile of puke and a group of psychically powered machines breaking Ness' arm and kicking the crap out of Paula respectively to temporarily take them out of commission, all it took to deal with Jeff was a tiny scratch from an insane hippie with a ruler. Worse yet, he was the one furthest away from the action! Anyway, these injuries turned out to not be a huge deal, since Ness had some pretty sweet healing powers to go along with his destructive psychic powers, and strong jawline, and toned muscles, and easygoing personality. Fuck that guy.
Jeff took another drag from his cigarette only to find that there was no more left, at some point during that train of thought, he smoked the whole cigarette right down to the filter. "Sheesh, that must be a new record." He muttered to no one in particular. With a shrug, he decided that the first one wasn't enough. So he reached into his coat pocket, pulled out his lighter and his cigarettes yet again, and lit another cigarette. He just created arguably the most useful invention to the group yet. He deserves this.
"You know that stuff isn't good for you." A voice, female, calls out to him. Startled, he swung his head toward the source of the voice. Much to his surprise, it was Paula Polestar, arguably the most psychically gifted of his two companions, and also the nicest girl he's met in a long time. Jeff developed a bit of a crush on her. He decided against acting on it however, since he was pretty sure she had the hots for Ness. He couldn't blame her. Ness was an outgoing guy with a big heart, he was pretty clever at times, and the fact that he played sports probably helped him too.
"Paula? It's a little late to be walking around, shouldn't you be sleeping?" He watched her run underneath the tree and huddle up next to him, letting his gaze linger on her for a few seconds longer than it should've. Frankly, Paula was beautiful, inside and out. During his life, Jeff had come up with something called the thirds system when he was thinking about women. All women in his life had 2/3 qualities at most, Personality, Looks, and Intelligence. Every woman he had ever met had 2/3 qualities, to have all three would be ridiculous, there's no such thing as the perfect girl, that much is obvious, yet he was baffled at the girl huddled beneath the tree next to him.
She was seemingly perfect. From what he gathered, she was much more intelligent than Ness, in terms of book smarts, anyway. Granted, she wasn't as smart as Jeff, but very few people were. Personality wise, she was perfect too. In all his years, he had never met anyone with such a kind and forgiving heart, she was honestly the closest thing this world had as a saint. Jeff thought it was a facade at first, who wouldn't? Again, nobody's perfect, but she managed to prove him wrong the longer they traveled together. Jeff would watch in awe as she would buy food for random people down on their luck, forgive anyone who had wronged her almost instantly, and she always had a comforting word or two to say to Ness when he was feeling particularly homesick. If she possessed just those two qualities, Jeff wouldn't have a problem, and everything would be fine. But why was she attractive to boot? Even she looked her worst, she still kept her beauty, it captivated him how she could keep her good looks regardless if she wore makeup, slept the night before, bathed the night before, or even if she just finished fighting some random crazy person. Before he met Paula, Jeff had never seen anyone look attractive with a black eye, yet she found a way to do it, and aroused thoughts within Jeff that he didn't know he had, such as the desire to brutally maim the person that gave her the aforementioned black eye, and Jeff had never wanted to brutally maim anyone unless they messed with one of his inventions. Her alluring beauty alone was a little surreal at times. Jeff had to admit he had a few less than pure thoughts about her at times when he was the only one awake, although they didn't last very long. Not only did imagining Paula naked make him feel incredibly guilty, she could also read his mind at any point and the jig would be up. She would find out his feelings about her, reject him, and their friendship would be strained and awkward, if it would even continue to exist from that point forward, that is. Jeff knew his time with this perfect woman was finite, so he wanted to make sure the days were spent as pleasantly as possible.
Luckily for him, Paula wouldn't read his mind. She was very much opposed to the idea of reading another's innermost thoughts, as she found it very rude. Ness, on the other hand, was a different story. He loved telepathy, loved reading people's minds, and finding out embarrassing secrets about them, it was the main reason that Jeff kept his distance away from Ness, among other reasons. He didn't need that moron reading his mind and spilling the beans to Paula. It would be as bad as Paula figuring out herself. Plus, Jeff thought Ness acted like a total dudebro at times, it really pissed him off.
He took another drag from his second cigarette, making sure to turn his head all the way away from Paula in order to make sure she didn't inhale any of the smoke.
"You know, when the packaging of something says it can kill you, it probably isn't a good thing to do." She spoke up. "That's one thing smokers have in common with kindergartners, if you tell them not to do something, it'll make them really want to do it." Her angelic, bell-like voice interrupted the sounds of the heavy rain hitting the pavement, and broke Jeff's rather unhealthy train of thought. "I mean, it even says on the package 'smoking causes lung cancer.' Every smoker I've met sees that and replies with 'aww man that's terrible!'" She sighed with what Jeff understood as her best attempt at impersonating him, complete with putting her index and middle fingers together, pressing them to her mouth and giving an over-exaggerated blow. Jeff could only offer a slight chuckle in response to her comment. She had a pretty good sense of humour at times. Her impression of him was a little off though. Jeff, by his own admission, had somewhat of a nasal voice at times. Also, he didn't sigh out his sentences like some stereotypical depressed kid. He was too good at hiding stuff like that.
"Eh. I just invented the greatest thing yet. I deserve to treat myself, let me have my vices woman!" He kicked himself mentally. That comment sounded much more hostile than he intended for it to sound. Jeff always had a knack for screwing up these sorts of things, it's the main reason he doesn't have any friends back in Winters.
"How does someone your age end up getting his hands on cigarettes anyway?" She put her hands on her hips, signifying that she's transformed into full mother mode. Jeff has encountered the gesture many times during their time together, so he was somewhat rendered immune to it.
"Homeless people looking for a quick buck. They're a godsend really." She frowned at him in response, which lead to him mentally kicking himself yet again. This is the exact reason why he preferred to stick to inventions, he didn't make as many mistakes then, and if inventing was where he felt the most comfortable, social interaction was probably where he felt the least. "So, what brings you up at this hour?"
"You." She turned to him and looked into his eyes. Jeff flinched, feeling like he was just punched in the gut. Jeff stumbled over his words, desperately looking for something to say in response. "I'm worried about you Jeff." She continued, much to Jeff's relief. "You don't sleep all that much, and you still act very guarded around us. Is everything alright?" Jeff wanted to say something snide and sarcastic. Hell, if anyone other than Paula was asking him that question he probably would have. The truth was, everything was very much not alright for Jeff Andonuts.
"Um, yeah? Everything's fine Paula." She frowned in response, clearly unconvinced. Jeff prayed that she wasn't reading his mind, every single flaw of his would come to light, his lingering feeling of ineptitude, the years of self loathing, and worst of all, his feelings for her. He looked away only for the blonde girl enter his vision again.
"You know, you're not good at hiding when something is on your mind." She smirked at him. "You're usually a pretty smooth talker; articulate even, stumbling over your words is a pretty telltale sign that something's bugging you. Come on Jeff, you can tell me." Jeff turned his head away from her yet again. He heard a sigh amongst the sounds of the rain. A long silence followed and Jeff started to fear the worst. Did he piss her off and she just decided to leave him? Did she realize that a loser like him wasn't worth her time, and decided to go back to Ness instead? Did she just get bored and leave? Jeff bit his lip and took a rather large drag from his cigarette. The last thing he wanted to do was annoy her. Jeff nervously turned his head back to where Paula was. She hadn't moved an inch, much to his surprise (and relief). "So." She spoke up, breaking what felt like a 1000 year silence. "What is this great invention of yours? What led to you treating yourself to not just one, but two whole cigarettes?" She raised her eyebrow at him with a smile, and he smiled right back at her. Finally, a topic of conversation he actually was comfortable with.
"Thank you for asking!" He beamed. "I created a Shield Killer out of a broken pipe and a few old electronics." He replied, the smile never leaving his face.
"So that was the pipe thing I saw on the desk on my way out." Jeff nodded. "Does it have a specific type of shield that it's effective on?"
"Nope! Both types of shields that the Starmen use are created with the same energy, if my calculations are correct, my new Shield Killer should work on all kinds of shields made with PSI."
"Jeff that's amazing!" She smiled brightly at him. Jeff couldn't help scratch the back of his neck in somewhat of a bashful gesture. He was more than happy to be praised by her. He wasn't praised by people very often, so when he received it, he felt great. "So, what gave you the idea to invent this awesome Shield Killer?"
"I heard you and Ness complaining about enemies who use shields, so I thought I'd give you guys a helping hand, make myself useful, you know?"
"Make yourself useful?" She mulled over the term for a moment, as if it sounded extremely strange to her. Jeff mentally kicked himself again. Paula doesn't need to know about his problems, they were together saving the world for christ's sake. Jeff knew his problems were insignificant. "Jeff. Ness and I aren't making you feel useless, are we?" It was pretty cold, but Jeff broke out in a cold sweat anyway. Even without reading his mind, Paula was damn good at figuring out what exactly he was thinking. Then again, Jeff also realized that he wasn't making it all that difficult for her either. "Jeff, I know I'm sounding like a broken record right about now, but is everything alright?" Jeff sighed. He knew Paula wasn't going to let this go, not until he said something. Usually, if someone asked him this, and he was in enough of a favorable mood to not say an incredibly snide and sarcastic remark at the other party's expense, he would just spin an extremely well told lie in order to get someone off his back. Strangely enough, Jeff didn't feel like doing either of those things.
"Well, the truth is, I'm a little uneasy." Instead, he decided to give her an extremely edited version of the truth. He knew he was still lying to her by omission, but he figured it was better than pulling a story out of his ass at least. "You guys are just so amazing, I'm finding it a little hard to keep up." Paula smiled at him in response.
"Oh no, that's just Ness. Trust me, I was having trouble keeping up with him when I first joined up too. He's a little crazy like that." Jeff nodded, hoping again that Paula would drop it. "That's not really it, is it?" She asked again.
"It's like..." Jeff had a hard time putting his thoughts into words without sounding whiny. "It's not really just one thing, It's more a lot of things that are bothering me." He shifted in place slightly. Paula's gaze didn't move an inch, she wanted him to continue. "I mean, we really don't have to talk about this. We have much more important things to worry about, after all." She crossed her arms in response. Jeff sighed in resignation, opening his fat mouth was his mistake, and now he had pay for it. "I'm kinda worried about the future, to be honest." He finally managed to spit it out.
"The future? Are you referring to the earth's or your own?" Jeff said nothing. It didn't take long for Paula to get her answer. "Your own, huh?" Jeff nodded meekly. "Well, what's wrong with that? We all worry about our future. I think it's part of growing up, to be honest, and don't forget that you're a really smart guy."
"I know, but that's not my only concern." Jeff took a deep breath. "The problem is, I don't see a place for myself in this world." Jeff looked down, suddenly finding the colour of his shoes mixed with the damp grass absolutely fascinating.
"Don't be stupid." Paula replied sharply, sharper than Jeff had ever heard her. His gaze shot back up to meet hers almost instantly. "There's always a place for geniuses like you Jeff, why would you even entertain a thought like that?"
"Is there?" Jeff shot back. "Because I'm having a hard time seeing it." He huffed. Jeff knew he was losing control, but it was too late for him to stop himself. "I don't have friends at my shitty boarding school because I'm far too socially awkward to function. I'm not that smart either, as I'm very close to failing one of my classes, doesn't look like I have a place for academics. Hell, I don't even have a place in my own home. My dad doesn't even give a shit about me, the reason he sent me to Snow Wood in the first place is because he didn't want me bothering him during work, and you wanna know the worst part? I'm not even that good of an inventor. I'd be fooling myself if I didn't admit that the Apple kid is kicking my ass in the inventions department."
"Wait, you're failing a class?" Paula raised her eyebrow.
"Yeah, I'm failing English." Her eyes widened, writing the expression of shock on her face perfectly. "I figured I could slack a bit, since I know the English language pretty well, especially at the level that was being taught. Well, I skipped a few days to invent some stuff, turns out I missed a very important test. Now I have a 47% grade in English. Nice one Jeff." He gave himself a gentle punch in the head for emphasis.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Jeff said nothing, opting to simply shrug instead. "Well... What about us?" Paula asked him calmly. "Maybe your place is with us, saving the world?" Jeff snorted in response.
"Are you serious? My place is with you?" He shook his head. "Yeah, I'll admit. I thought that too when I first got your message. I seriously managed to delude myself into thinking that I was meant to have a hand in saving the world. What a load." He flicked his second cigarette butt away onto the street. "Turns out, I'm useless here too. I can't keep up with Ness athletically, and I'm not a people person like you are, and it's not like I know some ancient, secret killing martial art either. Nope, I'm just a bitter nerd that puts shit together in the vain hope that my two insanely gifted partners see some purpose in lugging me around." Jeff sighed. "Face it, I'm useless." It was Paula's turn to look down at wet grass. Jeff instantly felt a nauseated sensation in his stomach, he felt like he wanted to vomit out his breakfast, lunch and dinner. In fact, Jeff would have welcomed that, as it would give him an excuse to leave this conversation. "I shouldn't have said that." Jeff inaudibly whispered to himself. "Jeff Andonuts, you fucking idiot. You shouldn't have said that."
"Well then? Do you want to leave us and go back to Winters?" The armor piercing question, Jeff could've sworn he heard glass shatter. Her blue eyes met his green, and even though Jeff stood almost a head taller than Paula, he suddenly felt very small in comparison to her.
"N-No that's not it! Paula, I love you guys!" For just a fleeting moment, Jeff felt very tempted to leave out the 'guys' in that sentence. He decided against it very quickly however. After all, he was coming off as enough of a trainwreck to Paula, the last thing he needed was to come off as even more pathetic than he already was. "Look, I'm just whining. Can we please forget we had this conversation? You and Ness don't have to worry about my problems."
"You're right, we don't." She took a few steps towards him. "I'm nagging you because I want to, Jeff. I care about you, and it pains me to see you in this much pain." She paused, a pensive expression on her face. After a moment of silence, she giggled. Jeff gritted his teeth, it wasn't fair. That giggle always made him go a little crazy. "That came out kinda funny, don't you think?" She smiled at him. He couldn't help but give her a slight smile back.
"Yeah, it did, but it's alright. I know what you're trying to convey, so it's fine."
"Good." Jeff swore that her smile was capable of ending wars at times. "Now then, back to the matter at hand." Jeff pulled out a third cigarette, he was really spoiling himself today, tonight, whatever. "Do you want to keep travelling with us?" He offered a faint nod in response. "Great! Then we don't have to worry about finding another genius. As smart as the Apple kid is, he smells really bad, I really don't wanna share a hotel room with him." Jeff looked at her, dumbfounded. "Now that that's settled, there's no need to be nervous anymore." Jeff let out a very audible 'huh!?' in response. If he was dumbfounded before, he was now completely stupefied.
"What are you-"
"You smoke when you're nervous." Jeff gasped. "What? No one's ever figured out one of your habits before?" She grinned triumphantly at him.
"It's just... No one has ever really cared that much to find out... I don't really advertise that, and it would take quite a lot of observation on your part to figure that out." She took a few more steps towards him, stopping once she was about 20 centimeters in length away from him. "But why do you even care?"
"So, there's no more need for this." Paula ignored him as she yanked the cigarette out of his mouth and threw it away. Jeff couldn't even voice a complaint if he wanted to.
Jeff took a deep breath from his nose. She smelled like strawberries, he found it fitting. It suited her preference towards the colour pink quite nicely in his opinion. Jeff usually hated all sweet things, but he made an exception in Paula's case. Just like he always did. "Paula, I don't understand..." She raised her eyebrow. "You say you care about me, and I believe you." Jeff was getting flustered, she was too close, it was making him uneasy. "But why? Paula, I just told you I'm a loser I have no friends my own dad doesn't even care about me and I'm not even that good of an inventor compared to the Apple Kid and I'm not even that smart either I'm just-" As Jeff was speaking, Paula grabbed him rather roughly by the collar of his shirt and kissed him.
Jeff froze up, he had no idea what to do with regards to even talking to girls. To him, kissing a girl was akin to a foreigner's first time in Fourside without a map. He wanted to do something, he KNEW he should've done something. Close his eyes, wrap his arms around her waist, anything outside of stepping on her feet or biting her tongue off would've been acceptable here, yet he couldn't bring himself to move out of fear ruining this perfect moment, or worse, waking up. So he just stood there, with his eyes wide open, and his lips slightly parted, he allowed her to take the lead, and just like that, his first kiss was taken by the girl of his dreams. Then, as quickly as it came she moved away from him.
"P-P-P-P-P-Paula? W-W-W-Why would you-?" She pressed her finger against his lips.
"I can read minds, you know." She winked, although Jeff could see the faint hue of red on her cheeks.
"Wait... So, this entire time... You..." She nodded. "Was that your first too by any chance?" Another nod. "But why me? I-" She pressed her finger against his lips again.
"Don't even say it, or else you're getting another one."
"I think I'd like that." He replied shyly. Paula giggled in response.
"I bet you would." She turned around and made her way back to the hotel room. "Well? Are you coming back?" She looked at him over her shoulder.
"Depends, do I get more kisses?" Jeff asked candidly, his tone even surprising himself.
"Oh don't worry, they're guaranteed." She turned her head and kept walking, Jeff nearly stumbled over himself trying to follow her. For the first time in a while, Jeff uncertainty of the future and his desire to smoke were far removed from his mind.
-and that was just the way he liked it.