Jane wouldn't eat. She'd sleep, but only grudgingly, and spent nearly all her time sitting next to her brother's bed.
Sure, her family had come, but they'd left after seeing a glimpse of the youngest son in the family lying in his mass of tubes and sheets.
She wasn't sure whether it was because they were being the pricks they always were, or because they couldn't stand staring at their son like that. But they deserve the pain, Jane thought bitterly as she looked at her brother's pale face, they deserve to see a peace on his face they never got to bring him.
So far, Jane had managed to restrain herself from crying, but she could feel heat building behind her eyes again. She flopped her face onto the hospital bed beside her brother's arm, and tried to think of other things.
She hadn't really imagined a life without her brother. Since they were little, they were always there for each other. She could remember their talks while he camped outside for six months, munching on sandwiches. She felt a prickling sensation behind her eyelids as she remembered his slouched lope, his morning habits, his hoarse singing and his ever so sweet concern for her.
It suddenly hit her that if Trent didn't make it, she'd never see her brother ever again. The thought latched onto her mind, freezing her for a few seconds before she forced herself to calm down.
When did I become so concerned about my sibling? Jane wondered to herself, concentrating on the gentle breathing of Trent. Perhaps she could pretend he was sleeping. That was it; he was only taking a nap, and he was going to wake up soon. But Jane couldn't shake off the image of him, lying in the white sheets and looking horribly cold.
When *did* I become so concerned? She thought about the question, and the earliest memory she could come up with to help answer that question surfaced to her mind.
The car screeched to a halt. They barely avoided crashing the car into the motorcycle before them.
"Oops. I guess I shouldn't talk while I drive."
Jane mumbled, feeling guilty that she had nearly crashed the car while her friend and brother were in it. Daria, in the meanwhile, was looking at Jane with a expression mixed with panic and nervousness. It was not any expression Jane had been expecting. She soon got an answer.
"Uhm, Jane. Would you believe your brother bashed his head against the roof of the car, fell onto my shoulder, then slipped onto my lap and still somehow managed to stay soundly asleep?"
Jane had to hide her laughter. Daria was not used to skinship at all, and the fact that Trent was lying in her lap was very obviously flustering her. She hadn't seen flustered Daria in quite a while.
She wondered about that for a second. Why didn't Daria get flustered around Tom? She dismissed the thought to torture her friend.
"Aa, don't worry. It's not like you've got 'problems' with him anymore."
"That's true."
Daria said as she struggled to push Trent back up. He was a dead weight and simply refused to unstick his cheek from her skirt. Giving up, Daria crossed her arms and tried to ignore the heavy warmth in her lap, his breath gentle on her knees.
"Heh, getting a little uncomfy back there?"
Jane said with a very annoying smirk. She loved to see Daria squirm. She definitely needs to loosen up in the touchy-feely department, Jane thought.
"I thought you realised how bad it is to drive as you speak."
Daria snapped.
"Suit yourself."
Silence ensued, and Daria found herself looking at Trent. He was breathing very softly and deeply, like the way he'd been sleeping back at the flea market. Her hands were getting uncomfortable, as they were stiffly set at her sides, so she hesitantly brought her hands out and settled them on his shoulder. He didn't even stir, and Daria found a smirk making its way to her lips.
Jane glanced back to see Daria looking amusedly at Trent quietly snoring away, her hands settled on his shoulder. Jane was surprised. She'd expected Daria to stay as stiff as a board the entire ride through.
Eventually bored of the silence, Daria absent-mindedly fiddled with the silver hoops in his ears, only slightly surprised to hear him mumble something before falling back to sleep. She continued to poke about the earrings, unaware of Jane catching a glimpse and raising an eyebrow.
Jane felt somewhat uncomfortable all of a sudden. There was something strange about the way Daria was toying with her brother's earrings. It seemed so... personal? Sure, Daria and Trent's friendship dated way back, but still... It was usually a big pain in the butt to say there were problems just because Daria was a girl and Trent was a guy, but this was different.
It was different because *Daria* was different. She was the type to be able to stay friends with guys, but she sure as heck couldn't get 'touchy-feely', as Jane had put it, with a guy as a friend. What really disturbed Jane was that she knew Daria was having problems getting over Tom. Jane knew for a fact that Daria's crush on Trent had ended quite a while ago, and as much as she was enjoying seeing her friend get flustered, she wasn't about to have Daria have split feelings for two different boys.
Not that she minded if Daria liked Trent, so long as she ended her relationship with Tom, first. Jane felt something twist in her lower stomach, to her surprise. She didn't mind Daria with Trent, at all...
Or did she? Why else did she feel so strange - in a bad way?
"The silence is killing me."
Jane broke the quiet, suddenly feeling the urge to stop Daria touching her brother's ear.
"So long as you don't crash the car."
Daria replied, oblivious to Jane's disturbed expression,
"Hey, Jane - is it just a coincidence that you and Trent have three hoops in each ear?"
A very unfamiliar feeling sifted into Jane, and she shifted in her seat quite uncomfortably. She didn't know why, but she didn't want to explain it to Daria. It wasn't like the reason itself was so bad she couldn't tell. There was something in her that made her feel weird... like she'd be selling out her relationship with Trent. What made her think that? It was Daria she was thinking about here...
Then she remembered Daria waiting for her to respond, so she said,
"Went to Axl's and did it for fun."
"Whoa. Did I poke a spot I wasn't meant to?"
Daria asked, sounding surprised. Realising she had sounded way too short and choppy, Jane quickly amended,
"Nah. It's just not much of a big deal."
Trent mumbled something that Daria didn't quite catch again, and turned slightly over. Daria's hands took flight and she looked perfectly expressionless as Trent sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"My head hurts."
He mumbled.
"You *did* smash it through the roof of the car."
Daria said, shifting away from Trent. Still half-asleep, Trent looked up at the car roof and gave a confused expression.
"Huh? The roof's fine..."
"Yoo hoo, back to Earth, Trent,"
Jane called from the driver's seat. He blinked, and seemed to slide back to the reality plane.
"Oh, right. Sorry."
Daria gave a small chuckle, and Trent looked at her for a moment.
"Was I in your lap?"
"Yeah. Your head's about as light as an elephant, speaking of which."
"Sorry, Daria."
"I was only kidding."
They exchanged smiles, and Jane was unpleasantly surprised to find *herself* squirming.
"You know, there's a parody marathon tonight?"
Jane said, and was disturbed to feel *relieved* when Daria was distracted from Trent. What was the weird feeling she was getting? Nothing's going on, she chided herself, Daria's still pining over Tom. She wouldn't *think* of 'two-timing' with her feelings... and didn't you say you didn't mind Daria liking Trent?
But Jane still felt a flicker of unrecognisable worry. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she had heard Trent's mumbles. Both times, he had said in a very un-Trent-like voice, 'feels nice'.
Looking at Trent's face, she wondered. Did he know how she had felt? Did he have any idea how Daria had felt? Or... how Daria was feeling now? Truth be told, not even Jane felt she could fathom the cynical mind of her best friend. She froze when she saw that her brother did not seem to be breathing. Then she let her breath out when he took in another deep breath of oxygen.
Jane watched her brother's chest gently rise and fall. It was much too peaceful for her liking. She could still remember Daria staring at her sleeping brother back at the flea market, but back then, you could tell he was sleeping healthily. Watching a pale face barely manage to suck in a shuddering breath of oxygen through a mask was completely different.
Clutching her brothers' fingers in a hand, Jane continued to watch her brother sleep. Something hurt inside her throat, and she couldn't get it down no matter how many times she swallowed.
Flopping her head back to her arms, Jane forced herself to think. When had she realised just *how* attached she was to her brother? Probably the very same night Daria was poking his ear about, Jane thought, and after letting darkness envelope her vision, she invaded it with vivid memory.
Jane looked over her shoulder, her eyebrows rising to see Daria lying on her bed and hanging her head over the edge of her mattress and gazing at the ceiling.
"Your book was that boring, huh?"
She said, dabbing some moss-green onto her painting with the tips of her fingers.
"Mmm hmmm."
The non-commitical answer made Jane's brows rise higher.
"Wanna change into your jammies yet?"
"Mmm hmmm."
Shaping out a curve of orange with her thumbnail, Jane asked in a normal voice,
"Does jumping off the moon with a bungee cord wearing a purple cow costume sound good to you?"
"Mmm. Put marshmallows in mine."
"DARIA!!"
"Huh? What?"
The brunette blinked as she turned her eyes towards her friend, who was using a sponge soaked in chocolate-brown paint onto her canvas.
"Welcome back to Lawndale."
"Ugh. We do not speak of such things."
Daria muttered. Seeing her friend now back to her world, Jane set down her sponge and starting to intricately mix together dollops of white paint into black and asked,
"Okay, what's chewing you?"
"Nothing. I have no idea what you're talking about."
"And I'm Leonardo DiCaprio. Work with me here, Daria."
"Well..."
Daria pulled herself up and crossed her legs over Jane's bed. Seeing how Daria was finally ready to talk, Jane turned around from her painting, wiping her hands on a wet towel as she did so.
"...It's like this. Tom wants us to get back together again."
Jane's eyes brightened.
"That's good, isn't it?"
Daria's eyes narrowed.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Come off it, Daria. I know you've been missing him terribly since you broke up."
"That's what's *supposed* to happen."
Daria said sullenly. Jane was quiet, hesitant as she wasn't sure how to phrase what she wanted to say, but decided to give it a shot.
"Daria, don't take this the wrong way, okay? We're outcasts, and we're anti-social. The only difference is that I latch onto guys more than you do. Now, take a good look at Tom. He's as cynical and witty as you, and shares a lot of opinions with you. He appreciates you for who you are, he's patient, and truly likes you. Plus, he's rich, so you can trust that anything he wants from you isn't materialistic. What he wants is to be your boyfriend."
Jane hid her pleased feelings to see Daria looking surprised, and continued,
"You don't find a guy like that everyday, Daria. As outcasts, we tend to be very dependable on the people we *are* socially associated with. So Tom is incredibly special to you."
Daria looked thoughtful for a moment, but she grew depressed.
"But it's going to be so hard to see each other once he goes. We're going to have to work harder to keep our relationship going. Besides... what am *I* to *him*?"
Jane laughed, causing Daria to stare at her.
"You should go up to the mirror and start saying, 'I love myself, because I am who I am, and that's me'. Seriously, Daria - he loves your wits and smarts, plus you're a really nice person once people get to know you. Of course, once they *really* know you, they know the *real* truth... I'm only kidding! Anyway, where was I? Right.
"There are some things worth chasing after, and things that are actually worth working for. Think about how many fights *we've* been through. We've worked out the kinks everytime they've risen, right?"
"Yeah, but that's because our friendship isn't something you can find everyda--"
Daria stopped, her eyes widening. Jane grinned.
"Take a long think about it, Morgendorffer,"
She drawled, and added the finishing touches to her painting with a toothbrush, she stepped aside to observe it from an angle.
"Whatcha think?"
She asked, and Daria looked at the picture of herself, running a hand through her hair as she looked to her side, the other hand stuck in her jacket pocket as she walked down a leaf-littered lane. A flurry of finger-shaped leaves were caught in wind and rushing past her.
"Nice."
She said vaguely. Jane was surprised to see a tint of pink at her cheeks. Was she embarrassed or... flattered? Jane let out a dramatic sigh.
"That's just about the worst word you can give to any artist."
She complained. Daria lips quirked into a smile at Jane's words as she looked at the picture. Seeing that made Jane realise what could truly enhance the image.
"Hang on,"
She said, and bending over her picture, applied a small dab of peach-pink at Daria's cheek with her sponge, and with her pinkie, added just the slightest of smiles to Daria's lips. The real Daria stood up.
"I'm going to go brush my teeth."
"Go on without me,"
Jane said, occupied with giving the leaves texture. Just before Daria left the room with her toothbrush, however, Jane asked,
"Know what you're going to do about it yet?"
Daria paused.
"...I think so."
Jane caught Daria's smile of gratitude before she left, and Jane found herself smiling as she completed the border to the image. Leaving the easel out to let the paint dry, Jane sauntered off to join Daria in cleansing off.
By the time they returned to her room, however, the picture was gone.
"I am so sure I left it out here to let the paint dry..."
Jane muttered, looking around for her masterpiece, and Daria tucked herself into her sleeping bag. Sighing, Jane started to walk out of her room.
"What's up?"
Daria asked.
"I'm bidding my brother good night. Wanna come with me?"
Setting her glasses next to her and shaking her head, Daria slid into her sleeping bag. Jane switched off the light for Daria, but just before she left, Daria muttered,
"You can say it for me."
Jane nodded slightly, and strolled downstairs. On the way to the basement, she noticed the light on in the kitchen. She discovered her brother at the kitchen table, studying her picture of Daria intently.
He didn't even hear her come in. She stood there, leaning against the door frame patiently, but he continued to study the picture. His eyes looked mesmerised with the image, completely lost in thought.
Jane felt quite weirded out for a moment. Like she was intruding in something she shouldn't be. What was he doing, staring at her picture of Daria anyhow? Annoyed at herself for feeling annoyed, Jane decided to speak up.
"Hey Trent."
He practically jumped, startled out of his wits, but he managed to calm down.
"Uh, hi Janey. Nice picture."
Jane smiled, but felt something in her feel bad. Again?! She thought to herself irritatedly.
"Thanks. You snatched it off while it was drying?"
"Wanted to take a better look at it,"
Trent said. Jane felt strangely bad. Why did she not like the way Trent was looking at the picture? Had this been back when she had thought it was cute of Daria to like her brother, she would have thought it was a sweet notion. But now that Daria was 'experienced in that field', she felt strangely alarmed.
Alarmed?
"Nice picture,"
He repeated, and stood up, tucking the painting under his arm.
"Where're you taking it?"
Jane asked, for some reason feeling panicked as Trent carried it off with him.
"I like the smile and the blush. It's inspiring me of a song."
He said, and he gave a little wave.
"'Night."
"Uh... yeah. Good night."
Just as he started to leave, however, Jane blurted out,
"Do you know who it is?"
Trent gave the picture a look before saying with a questioning lilt,
"Daria?"
"Yeah. Does it look like her?"
Smirking, her brother walked off, throwing his words over his shoulder.
"Not a bit. That's why I guessed 'Daria'."
Blinking, Jane stood in her kitchen before she finally made herself pour out some water into a glass. Drinking it, she thought,
'Dang influence.'
Something was gnawing at her - badly. She didn't know what it was, but for some reason, she had had a very bad urge to tear the painting out of her brother's hands a few seconds ago. What was up with that?
It's just a song thing, she told herself, he said so himself. Why am I making up weird, pointless excuses? Grumbling, Jane downed the glass before retreating upstairs.
As she crawled into her bed, Jane remembered something which she easily dismissed.
She'd forgotten to tell Trent good night for Daria.
A/N:: *laughs* Yes, those asterisks are supposed to show emphasis. I can't be bothered with html at this point to insert bold or italics. I'll do it some time in future. By any rate, the summary for this story sucks. Can anyone think of a better one? Anyhoot, thanks for bearing with my really blegh way of writing, and for leaving some memorable reviews in my email. ^^ (And if you continue to, at the very least I'll realise what sucks and fix it.)
rantI'm sick of a lot of things in Daria fanfiction. Either Trent's a sleepy jerk or Tom's a stuck up bastard. People either hate Trent or hate Tom. The OOC stuff I've seen are ridiculous. I really hope to break some of the worst cliches I've seen, although I wouldn't be surprised if I got sucked into writing one since just about every trick in the book has been used between Trent and Daria.
Would it really be a twist with Daria/Tom at the end? I've read plenty of fics with that ending, and all had Trent acting like an idiot. To balance that out, there are about a million fics with Daria/Trent that have Tom acting totally OOC. I don't think it'd be 'a twist' - it really depends on how many fics you've read and what they've contained. So all I ask is that if you read this fic, try to keep out all the other fics you've read. Otherwise, you'll compare. And that would be very bad. :P /rant
Sure, her family had come, but they'd left after seeing a glimpse of the youngest son in the family lying in his mass of tubes and sheets.
She wasn't sure whether it was because they were being the pricks they always were, or because they couldn't stand staring at their son like that. But they deserve the pain, Jane thought bitterly as she looked at her brother's pale face, they deserve to see a peace on his face they never got to bring him.
So far, Jane had managed to restrain herself from crying, but she could feel heat building behind her eyes again. She flopped her face onto the hospital bed beside her brother's arm, and tried to think of other things.
She hadn't really imagined a life without her brother. Since they were little, they were always there for each other. She could remember their talks while he camped outside for six months, munching on sandwiches. She felt a prickling sensation behind her eyelids as she remembered his slouched lope, his morning habits, his hoarse singing and his ever so sweet concern for her.
It suddenly hit her that if Trent didn't make it, she'd never see her brother ever again. The thought latched onto her mind, freezing her for a few seconds before she forced herself to calm down.
When did I become so concerned about my sibling? Jane wondered to herself, concentrating on the gentle breathing of Trent. Perhaps she could pretend he was sleeping. That was it; he was only taking a nap, and he was going to wake up soon. But Jane couldn't shake off the image of him, lying in the white sheets and looking horribly cold.
When *did* I become so concerned? She thought about the question, and the earliest memory she could come up with to help answer that question surfaced to her mind.
The car screeched to a halt. They barely avoided crashing the car into the motorcycle before them.
"Oops. I guess I shouldn't talk while I drive."
Jane mumbled, feeling guilty that she had nearly crashed the car while her friend and brother were in it. Daria, in the meanwhile, was looking at Jane with a expression mixed with panic and nervousness. It was not any expression Jane had been expecting. She soon got an answer.
"Uhm, Jane. Would you believe your brother bashed his head against the roof of the car, fell onto my shoulder, then slipped onto my lap and still somehow managed to stay soundly asleep?"
Jane had to hide her laughter. Daria was not used to skinship at all, and the fact that Trent was lying in her lap was very obviously flustering her. She hadn't seen flustered Daria in quite a while.
She wondered about that for a second. Why didn't Daria get flustered around Tom? She dismissed the thought to torture her friend.
"Aa, don't worry. It's not like you've got 'problems' with him anymore."
"That's true."
Daria said as she struggled to push Trent back up. He was a dead weight and simply refused to unstick his cheek from her skirt. Giving up, Daria crossed her arms and tried to ignore the heavy warmth in her lap, his breath gentle on her knees.
"Heh, getting a little uncomfy back there?"
Jane said with a very annoying smirk. She loved to see Daria squirm. She definitely needs to loosen up in the touchy-feely department, Jane thought.
"I thought you realised how bad it is to drive as you speak."
Daria snapped.
"Suit yourself."
Silence ensued, and Daria found herself looking at Trent. He was breathing very softly and deeply, like the way he'd been sleeping back at the flea market. Her hands were getting uncomfortable, as they were stiffly set at her sides, so she hesitantly brought her hands out and settled them on his shoulder. He didn't even stir, and Daria found a smirk making its way to her lips.
Jane glanced back to see Daria looking amusedly at Trent quietly snoring away, her hands settled on his shoulder. Jane was surprised. She'd expected Daria to stay as stiff as a board the entire ride through.
Eventually bored of the silence, Daria absent-mindedly fiddled with the silver hoops in his ears, only slightly surprised to hear him mumble something before falling back to sleep. She continued to poke about the earrings, unaware of Jane catching a glimpse and raising an eyebrow.
Jane felt somewhat uncomfortable all of a sudden. There was something strange about the way Daria was toying with her brother's earrings. It seemed so... personal? Sure, Daria and Trent's friendship dated way back, but still... It was usually a big pain in the butt to say there were problems just because Daria was a girl and Trent was a guy, but this was different.
It was different because *Daria* was different. She was the type to be able to stay friends with guys, but she sure as heck couldn't get 'touchy-feely', as Jane had put it, with a guy as a friend. What really disturbed Jane was that she knew Daria was having problems getting over Tom. Jane knew for a fact that Daria's crush on Trent had ended quite a while ago, and as much as she was enjoying seeing her friend get flustered, she wasn't about to have Daria have split feelings for two different boys.
Not that she minded if Daria liked Trent, so long as she ended her relationship with Tom, first. Jane felt something twist in her lower stomach, to her surprise. She didn't mind Daria with Trent, at all...
Or did she? Why else did she feel so strange - in a bad way?
"The silence is killing me."
Jane broke the quiet, suddenly feeling the urge to stop Daria touching her brother's ear.
"So long as you don't crash the car."
Daria replied, oblivious to Jane's disturbed expression,
"Hey, Jane - is it just a coincidence that you and Trent have three hoops in each ear?"
A very unfamiliar feeling sifted into Jane, and she shifted in her seat quite uncomfortably. She didn't know why, but she didn't want to explain it to Daria. It wasn't like the reason itself was so bad she couldn't tell. There was something in her that made her feel weird... like she'd be selling out her relationship with Trent. What made her think that? It was Daria she was thinking about here...
Then she remembered Daria waiting for her to respond, so she said,
"Went to Axl's and did it for fun."
"Whoa. Did I poke a spot I wasn't meant to?"
Daria asked, sounding surprised. Realising she had sounded way too short and choppy, Jane quickly amended,
"Nah. It's just not much of a big deal."
Trent mumbled something that Daria didn't quite catch again, and turned slightly over. Daria's hands took flight and she looked perfectly expressionless as Trent sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"My head hurts."
He mumbled.
"You *did* smash it through the roof of the car."
Daria said, shifting away from Trent. Still half-asleep, Trent looked up at the car roof and gave a confused expression.
"Huh? The roof's fine..."
"Yoo hoo, back to Earth, Trent,"
Jane called from the driver's seat. He blinked, and seemed to slide back to the reality plane.
"Oh, right. Sorry."
Daria gave a small chuckle, and Trent looked at her for a moment.
"Was I in your lap?"
"Yeah. Your head's about as light as an elephant, speaking of which."
"Sorry, Daria."
"I was only kidding."
They exchanged smiles, and Jane was unpleasantly surprised to find *herself* squirming.
"You know, there's a parody marathon tonight?"
Jane said, and was disturbed to feel *relieved* when Daria was distracted from Trent. What was the weird feeling she was getting? Nothing's going on, she chided herself, Daria's still pining over Tom. She wouldn't *think* of 'two-timing' with her feelings... and didn't you say you didn't mind Daria liking Trent?
But Jane still felt a flicker of unrecognisable worry. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she had heard Trent's mumbles. Both times, he had said in a very un-Trent-like voice, 'feels nice'.
Looking at Trent's face, she wondered. Did he know how she had felt? Did he have any idea how Daria had felt? Or... how Daria was feeling now? Truth be told, not even Jane felt she could fathom the cynical mind of her best friend. She froze when she saw that her brother did not seem to be breathing. Then she let her breath out when he took in another deep breath of oxygen.
Jane watched her brother's chest gently rise and fall. It was much too peaceful for her liking. She could still remember Daria staring at her sleeping brother back at the flea market, but back then, you could tell he was sleeping healthily. Watching a pale face barely manage to suck in a shuddering breath of oxygen through a mask was completely different.
Clutching her brothers' fingers in a hand, Jane continued to watch her brother sleep. Something hurt inside her throat, and she couldn't get it down no matter how many times she swallowed.
Flopping her head back to her arms, Jane forced herself to think. When had she realised just *how* attached she was to her brother? Probably the very same night Daria was poking his ear about, Jane thought, and after letting darkness envelope her vision, she invaded it with vivid memory.
Jane looked over her shoulder, her eyebrows rising to see Daria lying on her bed and hanging her head over the edge of her mattress and gazing at the ceiling.
"Your book was that boring, huh?"
She said, dabbing some moss-green onto her painting with the tips of her fingers.
"Mmm hmmm."
The non-commitical answer made Jane's brows rise higher.
"Wanna change into your jammies yet?"
"Mmm hmmm."
Shaping out a curve of orange with her thumbnail, Jane asked in a normal voice,
"Does jumping off the moon with a bungee cord wearing a purple cow costume sound good to you?"
"Mmm. Put marshmallows in mine."
"DARIA!!"
"Huh? What?"
The brunette blinked as she turned her eyes towards her friend, who was using a sponge soaked in chocolate-brown paint onto her canvas.
"Welcome back to Lawndale."
"Ugh. We do not speak of such things."
Daria muttered. Seeing her friend now back to her world, Jane set down her sponge and starting to intricately mix together dollops of white paint into black and asked,
"Okay, what's chewing you?"
"Nothing. I have no idea what you're talking about."
"And I'm Leonardo DiCaprio. Work with me here, Daria."
"Well..."
Daria pulled herself up and crossed her legs over Jane's bed. Seeing how Daria was finally ready to talk, Jane turned around from her painting, wiping her hands on a wet towel as she did so.
"...It's like this. Tom wants us to get back together again."
Jane's eyes brightened.
"That's good, isn't it?"
Daria's eyes narrowed.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Come off it, Daria. I know you've been missing him terribly since you broke up."
"That's what's *supposed* to happen."
Daria said sullenly. Jane was quiet, hesitant as she wasn't sure how to phrase what she wanted to say, but decided to give it a shot.
"Daria, don't take this the wrong way, okay? We're outcasts, and we're anti-social. The only difference is that I latch onto guys more than you do. Now, take a good look at Tom. He's as cynical and witty as you, and shares a lot of opinions with you. He appreciates you for who you are, he's patient, and truly likes you. Plus, he's rich, so you can trust that anything he wants from you isn't materialistic. What he wants is to be your boyfriend."
Jane hid her pleased feelings to see Daria looking surprised, and continued,
"You don't find a guy like that everyday, Daria. As outcasts, we tend to be very dependable on the people we *are* socially associated with. So Tom is incredibly special to you."
Daria looked thoughtful for a moment, but she grew depressed.
"But it's going to be so hard to see each other once he goes. We're going to have to work harder to keep our relationship going. Besides... what am *I* to *him*?"
Jane laughed, causing Daria to stare at her.
"You should go up to the mirror and start saying, 'I love myself, because I am who I am, and that's me'. Seriously, Daria - he loves your wits and smarts, plus you're a really nice person once people get to know you. Of course, once they *really* know you, they know the *real* truth... I'm only kidding! Anyway, where was I? Right.
"There are some things worth chasing after, and things that are actually worth working for. Think about how many fights *we've* been through. We've worked out the kinks everytime they've risen, right?"
"Yeah, but that's because our friendship isn't something you can find everyda--"
Daria stopped, her eyes widening. Jane grinned.
"Take a long think about it, Morgendorffer,"
She drawled, and added the finishing touches to her painting with a toothbrush, she stepped aside to observe it from an angle.
"Whatcha think?"
She asked, and Daria looked at the picture of herself, running a hand through her hair as she looked to her side, the other hand stuck in her jacket pocket as she walked down a leaf-littered lane. A flurry of finger-shaped leaves were caught in wind and rushing past her.
"Nice."
She said vaguely. Jane was surprised to see a tint of pink at her cheeks. Was she embarrassed or... flattered? Jane let out a dramatic sigh.
"That's just about the worst word you can give to any artist."
She complained. Daria lips quirked into a smile at Jane's words as she looked at the picture. Seeing that made Jane realise what could truly enhance the image.
"Hang on,"
She said, and bending over her picture, applied a small dab of peach-pink at Daria's cheek with her sponge, and with her pinkie, added just the slightest of smiles to Daria's lips. The real Daria stood up.
"I'm going to go brush my teeth."
"Go on without me,"
Jane said, occupied with giving the leaves texture. Just before Daria left the room with her toothbrush, however, Jane asked,
"Know what you're going to do about it yet?"
Daria paused.
"...I think so."
Jane caught Daria's smile of gratitude before she left, and Jane found herself smiling as she completed the border to the image. Leaving the easel out to let the paint dry, Jane sauntered off to join Daria in cleansing off.
By the time they returned to her room, however, the picture was gone.
"I am so sure I left it out here to let the paint dry..."
Jane muttered, looking around for her masterpiece, and Daria tucked herself into her sleeping bag. Sighing, Jane started to walk out of her room.
"What's up?"
Daria asked.
"I'm bidding my brother good night. Wanna come with me?"
Setting her glasses next to her and shaking her head, Daria slid into her sleeping bag. Jane switched off the light for Daria, but just before she left, Daria muttered,
"You can say it for me."
Jane nodded slightly, and strolled downstairs. On the way to the basement, she noticed the light on in the kitchen. She discovered her brother at the kitchen table, studying her picture of Daria intently.
He didn't even hear her come in. She stood there, leaning against the door frame patiently, but he continued to study the picture. His eyes looked mesmerised with the image, completely lost in thought.
Jane felt quite weirded out for a moment. Like she was intruding in something she shouldn't be. What was he doing, staring at her picture of Daria anyhow? Annoyed at herself for feeling annoyed, Jane decided to speak up.
"Hey Trent."
He practically jumped, startled out of his wits, but he managed to calm down.
"Uh, hi Janey. Nice picture."
Jane smiled, but felt something in her feel bad. Again?! She thought to herself irritatedly.
"Thanks. You snatched it off while it was drying?"
"Wanted to take a better look at it,"
Trent said. Jane felt strangely bad. Why did she not like the way Trent was looking at the picture? Had this been back when she had thought it was cute of Daria to like her brother, she would have thought it was a sweet notion. But now that Daria was 'experienced in that field', she felt strangely alarmed.
Alarmed?
"Nice picture,"
He repeated, and stood up, tucking the painting under his arm.
"Where're you taking it?"
Jane asked, for some reason feeling panicked as Trent carried it off with him.
"I like the smile and the blush. It's inspiring me of a song."
He said, and he gave a little wave.
"'Night."
"Uh... yeah. Good night."
Just as he started to leave, however, Jane blurted out,
"Do you know who it is?"
Trent gave the picture a look before saying with a questioning lilt,
"Daria?"
"Yeah. Does it look like her?"
Smirking, her brother walked off, throwing his words over his shoulder.
"Not a bit. That's why I guessed 'Daria'."
Blinking, Jane stood in her kitchen before she finally made herself pour out some water into a glass. Drinking it, she thought,
'Dang influence.'
Something was gnawing at her - badly. She didn't know what it was, but for some reason, she had had a very bad urge to tear the painting out of her brother's hands a few seconds ago. What was up with that?
It's just a song thing, she told herself, he said so himself. Why am I making up weird, pointless excuses? Grumbling, Jane downed the glass before retreating upstairs.
As she crawled into her bed, Jane remembered something which she easily dismissed.
She'd forgotten to tell Trent good night for Daria.
A/N:: *laughs* Yes, those asterisks are supposed to show emphasis. I can't be bothered with html at this point to insert bold or italics. I'll do it some time in future. By any rate, the summary for this story sucks. Can anyone think of a better one? Anyhoot, thanks for bearing with my really blegh way of writing, and for leaving some memorable reviews in my email. ^^ (And if you continue to, at the very least I'll realise what sucks and fix it.)
rantI'm sick of a lot of things in Daria fanfiction. Either Trent's a sleepy jerk or Tom's a stuck up bastard. People either hate Trent or hate Tom. The OOC stuff I've seen are ridiculous. I really hope to break some of the worst cliches I've seen, although I wouldn't be surprised if I got sucked into writing one since just about every trick in the book has been used between Trent and Daria.
Would it really be a twist with Daria/Tom at the end? I've read plenty of fics with that ending, and all had Trent acting like an idiot. To balance that out, there are about a million fics with Daria/Trent that have Tom acting totally OOC. I don't think it'd be 'a twist' - it really depends on how many fics you've read and what they've contained. So all I ask is that if you read this fic, try to keep out all the other fics you've read. Otherwise, you'll compare. And that would be very bad. :P /rant