Glass and Roses

DISCLAIMER: I do not own JTHM or any of its characters. I do not own Jhonen Vasquez. I do not own anything.

CHAPTER II

"Mama...are you awake?" Devi groaned and rolled over, opening her bleary eyes to see a five-year-old purple haired version of Johnny C watching her intently.

"Jesus, Bryke. What time is it?"

Bryker looked quickly at the digital watch on his thin pale wrist. "1:30."

Devi shot up in a sitting position, throwing her small son off of her shoulder. "IN THE AFTERNOON?" She screamed, turning to see what was wrong with her alarm.

"No, mama. In the morning." It wasn't sarcasm. He was serious.

"Bryke, baby, you gotta break this habit of waking me up when you can't sleep..." Devi snapped exasperatedly, lying back onto her pillows.

Bryker shook his head. "I can never sleep, mama..." He sighed.

"That's exactly why you have to break the habit." His mother grumbled.

"But mama...there's a man outside my window." Devi leapt out of bed before he'd completely finished his sentence, slamming the door to his room against the wall and glaring out the window. The small silhouette of a figure running down the alleyway was barely visible in the weak street lamps.

"Christ! Bryker, can you tell me what he looked like?"

Bryker shook his head. "Not really. He was wearing a big long coat." Devi took his hand. "Come stay in my room, okay?" She whispered, "I don't feel as if you're safe in here." Bryker nodded, snatching his most prized possession from off his toy box before following his mother into her room.

"Why do you love that damn burger boy so much?" She mumbled, more to herself than Bryker, who, every time upon being asked, would answer the same thing.

"He's my friend." Her son asserted, clutching to the plastic doll tighter, as if he thought Devi would take it right from under him.

His mother shook her head. "Bryke...that's not a friend. Friends carry on conversations-"

"He talks to me." Bryker said defensively, as if this were normal.

Devi blinked. "He does?" her voice trembled slightly.

Bryker nodded. "He gives me lots of advice. He tells me he knows where daddy is."

"Nny? What are you doing?"

Devi shook the memory from her skull and looked down at her son. "He tells you where your dad is?" A tremor of fear danced on her tongue.

Bryker nodded his head again. "Yeah, he says I should go find-"

"NO!" Devi exploded, ripping the toy from her son's hands. Bryker opened his mouth to object, but Devi was still shouting at the top of her lungs. "YOU DON'T LISTEN TO HIM! GOT IT? DON'T TALK TO THIS THING ANYMORE!" Bryker didn't speak. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

The young boy's eyes grew wet with tears, but he looked down at his feet and whispered, "Yes, mama."

Immediately, Devi felt as if she'd overreacted. "Look, I'm sorry, Bryke..." She muttered, handing the burger boy back to him, "I didn't mean..." Bryker was too content with having his toy back to listen to her. He grabbed a few pillows and a roll of blankets and curled up on the floor of his mother's bedroom.

"Hon, you know, the bed's big enough for-" but her son was shaking his head.

"I don't wanna. It's fun sleeping on the floor. Like at camp!"

Devi rolled her eyes. "Whatever..." She muttered, snuggling into her sheets and falling asleep.

"Devi?" Devi turned around at the sound of a familiar voice. A tall young man with dark hair and tall boots was looking at her purposefully. He smiled slightly when she said hello calmly back. "You're not...afraid of me?" He asked tentatively, taking a cautious step forward. Devi shook her head. She tried to think of why she was supposed to be afraid of this guy, but she was so plastered she couldn't even remember her last name.

The man smiled wider, revealing a long row of brilliantly white teeth. He ordered a drink and asked if he could buy her one. She turned it down, but only because she felt one more sip of alcohol and she'd wake up the next morning in a pool of her own vomit.

She somehow found out that the man's name was Johnny, which sent a trigger in her brain, but she couldn't realize if it was good or bad. They talked politely for a while, and Devi was beginning to like this somewhat familiar stranger in a more than platonic way-which didn't seem to bother Johnny at all.

After Johnny had a few more drinks, Devi asked if he'd like to walk home with her. He agreed wholeheartedly, unable to hold his liquor as well as she could, mentioning he'd walked there anyway and was glad to have some company on his way back home. They walked the long way to her apartment, which she was shocked he already knew the way to.

When he'd walked her to the door, she asked if he'd like to come up. His smile, which was already big enough for the Cheshire cat to be outshone, grew wider. "Seriously?" He asked her, as if making sure she wasn't going to jump up and scream, "No you insane fuck! Go burn in hell!"

They walked quietly inside. Her roommate, Tenna wasn't home yet, and left a note on the fridge stating she shouldn't be expected back till around noon the next day because of the all-nighter she was invited to. It didn't exactly bother them about her absence, to say the least.

Johnny started, warily, with a peck on the lips. Devi grabbed his neck and pulled him closer, letting her tongue lash into his mouth.

In shock, Johnny pulled away. Devi pouted slightly. She unmistakably wanted to continue the kiss as long as possible. "I...I'm sorry..." he muttered to himself, "I wasn't expecting-" Devi cut him off, obviously uninterested in the conversation and ready to get back to kissing.

Johnny tried his hardest to pull back again, knowing it was wrong, but the sense was slowly fading from his grasp, gone with the few too many drinks he'd had just moments before. He tried to get it back if only for a moment. But the feel of her fingers running up his neck and into his hair-a feeling that he'd always avoided because of his usual hatred of being touched-strangely enough gave him a pleasurable chill that sent him melting onto Devi's bed.

Devi leapt from the bed with a quiet yelp. She looked down at the floor to see Bryker murmuring to himself, not taking notice of his mother's wakefulness. She heard something about Sketti-Os as she got out of bed and silently dressed herself. She still seemed unnoticed by Bryker.

Her heart was pounding. This was the worst idea she'd ever had in her life. Leaving her five-year-old son alone? She couldn't do that. She had to take him. No, she couldn't take him! What was she thinking? She looked tiredly at her clock. 2:30am. Who did she know that would be awake at this time?

She reached for the phone, hoping her old roommate wasn't sleeping. "Tenna? Hey, what's up?"

"I'm watching the Insomniac's Special on MTV. It's pretty awful, but these things always are a scream to make fun of-and Spooky loves it!" Devi heard the faint squeak of the old bedraggled doll on the other line.

"Er...yeah, listen, Ten, I need a favor." Devi choked.

"I'll be there in five." Tenna mumbled. Devi blinked, and Tenna giggled. "You want me to watch Bryke, right?"

Devi smiled. "Yeah. You finally learned something, Ten. Good work."