A/N: My short and sweet contribution to the #TGPThursdays prompt this week, which was Brotps! Jason and Chidi are great characters on their own and I'd love to see them spending more time together without the girls or Michael around.
TGP 104: Introduction to Promposals
"Yo so we've been in school for like, a whole quarter, right dudes?" Jason's question caught Chidi off guard. Mostly because it wasn't relating stealing casino chips to their most recent ethical study, but Chidi still hadn't been anticipating a question about how long they'd been studying that wasn't then followed up with a request for a frozen yogurt break.
Eleanor counted up the weeks on her fingers and nodded along with Jason. "He's right, prof," she chimed in. "It's nearly been three months."
"If you're looking for an exam, I would need a bit more time to compose something to cover all the topics we've discussed," Chidi replied. It didn't seem to be Jason's style to seek out additional testing, but a professor never questioned the opportunity to more thoroughly examine a student's understanding. Assessment was, after all, the only way to verify and correct inadequacies in current lesson plans.
Jason's face scrunched up and he looked to Tahani for reassurance. "No, we never did exams in school; they're way too much writing without enough time to look any answers up in the bathroom," he said. "Dude, I just meant isn't it time for us to have like… prom? It's summery and nice out so it'd be dope to do cause I don't want to have prom when it gets snowy."
The socialite next to him was far more offended by the prospect of snow than Chidi was of one of his students trying to cheat. Eleanor's bathroom was a bit away from the living room; he'd have to make a note to tell Janet not to pop in there unless Jason needed more toilet paper.
"I'm going to have to wear snow boots?" Tahani gasped. "But no one looks good in boots that aren't form fitting!"
Eleanor looked about ready to launch into a tirade about Tahani's legs, so Chidi stepped in with a clap of his hands. "Jason does bring up a good point. I know this isn't a real school-" it hurt to think about after his hard-won tenure at La Sorbonne "-but we can still have some fun bonding events between the four of us," he said.
It was worth the next four days of Eleanor complaining over Tahani's inevitable dress one-up to see Jason's eyes light up with glee. "That's dope!" he cried. "I'm gonna get to go to prom!"
Janet was able to pop any number of styles of suits into existence and Your Anticipated Needs had its own formal wear section, so naturally Jason showed up to Eleanor's guest room with a garment bag that had a velour tracksuit inside. Chidi muffled his disbelief with his fist in front of his mouth so that he could technically have voiced it without actually hurting Jason's feelings.
It seemed that regardless of Chidi's quick and earnest insistence that Jason wasn't actually dressed for prom the young man still wanted to charge on ahead to the small hall they were using for the event. "When I was growing up in Jacksonville, I always dreamed of this day," Jason happily rambled. He bounced on the end of the bed while Chidi worked on tying his bow tie.
"You dreamed of going to prom in a teal tracksuit?" Chidi asked. Watching the man in the mirror, there was no denying the gleeful smile that stretched across his face. His original intention for inviting Jason over had been to make sure that the both of them were looking well put together. At least Chidi's job was easy now.
"Hell yeah, man!" Jason said. "It's the Jaguar's colors. Jacksonville!" The city's name needed to be shouted at the ceiling, apparently. Chidi shrugged. So long as the young man was happy. Tahani certainly was; she'd practically lived at the event hall this week, hovering over every small detail.
Eleanor was over at Tahani's now, having twisted her arm into leaving her precious decorations and catering for a whole hour to get ready. It was sweet, really, Chidi thought. What had started as animosity between the two women was blossoming into a genuine friendship. They had the plant to prove it. It was happily taking over the corner of Eleanor's bedroom.
Satisfied with his tie, Chidi turned to face Jason. "Well, I'm all set. And you are, too," he said. There wasn't much else to say besides the obvious. Now there was a whole twenty more minutes to kill. Jason looked up at Chidi, his bouncing stilling.
If there was a face that Chidi knew better than any other expression, it was that of someone chewing over a question. Jason had something he wanted to ask but didn't know if it was stupid to. "Hey homie?"
"Yes?" Chidi froze, waiting for the other shoe to drop. There had better not have been a second tracksuit in the garment bag.
Jason looked down at his hands as he tapped them together. He was always in motion. "I know Tahani's not my soulmate, but I was thinking that maybe I should have a date for the dance. Because it's prom. You gotta bring a date to prom," he said.
Chidi's shoulder dropped and he moved to sit next to Jason on the bed. "I don't think that Tahani is thinking about this like prom. Or Eleanor. So you don't need to feel like you have to bring a date," he said.
"But it is prom," Jason insisted. "We said it was gonna be prom. So, we need dates. Or at least, if you're gonna be cool you need a date."
Biting his tongue - literally - Chidi closed his eyes. A quick count to ten kept him from being unintentionally rude to Jason. He was excited for the event; it would be supremely unethical to squash that excitement with a cruel comment. Or at all.
"Well, I can help you find a good way to ask Tahani. Maybe something less culture-heavy than another Degas-style painting, but something she'd still like?" he offered.
Jason flipped his head to look at Chidi. "I just told you that I know Tahani's not my soulmate," he insisted. "Listening is internal to learning." Chidi exhaled as Jason butchered one of his all time favorite lessons for students.
"'Integral,'" he corrected quietly. "So you don't want to ask Tahani?" His stomach flipped as he considered the other options that Jason had left in their group who knew he wasn't the silent monk Jianyu. Chidi didn't know if he was perfect enough to help Jason ask Eleanor to be his fake-prom date.
"No I wanna ask the prettiest girl in the Good Place," Jason said. His voice took on a dreamy quality. "Janet."
Pop! Air in the room moved imperceptibly as the mainframe interface appeared in the bedroom. "Hi there!" Janet greeted, ever cheerful.
Jason leapt to his feet. "Janet! Hi!"
"Hi there," she repeated, still smiling. Chidi groaned. Before they got into another loop of "hi!" and "hey there's," he interjected into their conversation.
"Janet, Jason has a question for you. We're having our event tonight and he's finding himself without someone to spend his time with," Chidi explained. Janet nodded; she was the source of all knowledge for the Good Place. Of course she knew about their event.
"Okay then!"
"Wait! You didn't do it right, teach." Jason took Janet's hands into his and shuffled his feet. Even after correcting him, he looked to Chidi for reassurance before bounding ahead with his own version of what Chidi had considered to be a perfectly acceptable invitation. But what did he know? He wasn't a Jacksonville Jaguar fan.
Jason looked at Janet's hands rather than her face, but he remained perfectly earnest. It was adorable in a puppy-love sort of way.
"Janet, I'm going to my prom for the first time. I didn't get to go while I was alive and now that I'm dead, I wanna do it the best way possible by asking the prettiest girl to go with me. So, if you don't have a cousin who's already asked you, I'd like if you went with me," Jason said. When he finished, he looked at her with just his eyes, his face still tipped down.
Janet's thousand-watt smile didn't falter. "I'm not a girl and I don't have a cousin, but I would love to go to your prom with you, Jason!" she replied.
There wasn't a muscle in Chidi's face that could stop him from also smiling when Jason started hopping in a circle with Janet. "Best! Prom! Ever!"