Caution: Falling
By Kay
Disclaimer: Do not own Everworld. Do not own Everworld. I SO own-- damn it!
Author's Notes: Thanks for all the reviews, guys! *blush* They mean a lot, yanno? Thanks goes out to all of them-- I treasure each reviewer more than my bank account. *SNUGGLES*
The moment has finally arrived! Jalil! In Leather! And Ganymede, doing dasterically evil plotting. (What's dasterically mean? I didn't know it was a word, but the spell check isn't picking it up. Whoa. Hee hee.) Anyway, enjoy! Let me know whatcha think!
And yes, a carb diet works. I'm on it. But it's an EEEVIL thing. Fuckin' pork rinds…
And yes, I do believe Jalil is skinny because he DOES NOT EAT. X_X The boy is friggin' willowy as hell because he's a rabbit-food eater! A salad cruncher! A "pick-at-my-food-except-for-big-meals" boy! Damn it, how else do you get so skinny?!
Jalil: Um, my fast metabolism, maybe? *rolls eyes*
… stupid Jalil.
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Jalil stared down at the bag of Old Dutch pork rinds, and realized he'd sunk to the lowest possible level imaginable.
They were small, curved chips. Bubbled pork skin or something, all flat and tan and disgustingly bland. He'd tasted better cardboard-- although, actually, Jalil was pleased to say he'd never really tasted cardboard, so it was hard to say. But if he imagined the taste of cardboard, this would be worse. Somewhat.
They crunched loudly and tasted dead.
He narrowed two coffee-hued eyes at the flimsy bag.
"I am not living off of you for the next three weeks, damn it!"
Ganymede took this shout as his cue to pop into the kitchen, blinking curiously at the sight of his roommate perched on the kitchen counter, glaring angrily at a small crumpled bag of brown chips.
"Um… you okay, Jalil?"
"Am I okay?" Jalil repeated darkly, turning slowly to look at him. The glare only intensified. "Well… as such…"
"As such, what?"
"As such… I'm not." Jalil sniffed indignantly, picking idly at the bag of pork rinds with doubtful fingers. "I'm on a diet."
This allowed Ganymede a good five seconds of actual silence, as he studied his roommate's body form. Usually he didn't check out friends, but when they started making odd, feminine statements like that, the blonde youth had to worry. Especially considering Jalil. Especially considering his friend certainly did not need to go on a diet, due to the fact that his form was all angles and slender mocha skin, without an ounce of fat anywhere.
He stared hard at Jalil. Nope, no fat, not anywhere. That hadn't changed. Maybe he heard wrong? It was possible…
"Did you say you were on a diet?"
Jalil scowled heavily at the bag in his hand, dark eyes flashing menacingly. After a moment, he sighed and shook his head. "Yes, I said I was on a diet. Carbohydrate diet; it means nothing but meat, cheese, and pork rinds for a few weeks. It's already starting to kill me. This stuff is…" He wrinkled his nose. "Disgusting."
Ganymede's face looked blank. "… why are you on a diet?"
"Because it's healthy."
"But… you're already healthy."
"My physician says I need to stay off the sugar and carbohydrate intake for a while. It's not doing my heart any good." Flipping the bag on the kitchen counter, Jalil leaned back with a sigh, folding his arms over his chest awkwardly. "I guess I never really thought about it. I mean, my mother loved shoving sweets off on me when I was a kid. She thought I was too skinny or something."
"You are too skinny," his roommate eloquently pointed out. Jalil rolled his eyes at him.
"Whatever."
"Seriously, I used to think you were anorexic. It took months of surveillance to prove me wrong, too."
"Surveillance?" Frowning, a weird look appearing in his features, Jalil questioned, "Do I really want to know?"
"Probably not." He really didn't want to tell Jalil about the shower episode, and was relieved when the youth shook his head in dismissal.
"I won't ask then." Jalil went back to absently shoving the pork rind bag across the counter. "Anyway, that's why I'm on a diet. Not for long, but it sure feels like it."
Ganymede draped himself into a kitchen chair, planting his legs on either side and sitting backwards. He folded his arms to cushion his head, looking curiously at his friend and the pork rinds. "I didn't know you had a bad heart."
Jalil looked startled for once, dropping his hands to the counter and turning to look at his friend. "What?"
"You said the sugar was bad for your heart or something?"
"Oh. Well, not so much sugar as carbohydrates, too. Higher risk of heart failure or something-- I wasn't really listening. I don't have a bad heart, Ganymede," he added reassuringly, shoving the pork rinds into a small cupboard above the sink. If they had to be around, he didn't want to see them. "It was just some good advice."
The blonde pouted. "You're already too skinny. You're gonna end up going on a diet like one of those campus girls, and all you'll eat is rabbit food! And salad! I'll have to buy lettuce heads!"
Jalil rolled his eyes, before propping up his elbow to rest his chin on his hand. He smiled slightly at his roommate. "I suppose. Now what was so important you wanted to tell me earlier?"
"Huh?"
"The thing you were so excited about? That you had to call me over my cell phone in the middle of Advanced Physics to rave about, until I cut you off?"
Ganymede's face immediately brightened. "Oh, that!" He leaped out of his chair, green eyes wide and twinkling with delight. The expression made Jalil wince and suddenly wish he were somewhere very, very far away from his exuberant roommate.
"Jalil! Maybe it's good you're on a diet-- because tonight, my friend, we are going out!" announced the boy with dramatic flair, waving his arm repeatedly through the air. Jalil just raised an eyebrow at him, frowning slightly at the implications.
"Out…?"
"Dancing!"
"Dancing?!"
"With sexy young gods and a lovely redhead woman to drive us home when we're all filthy drunk and mad in the brain!" crowed Ganymede triumphantly.
Jalil was starting to feel a headache coming on.
"Could you… say it in English? Please?" the dark eyed boy asked slowly, reaching up to rub his temples. The sentence sounded vaguely foreboding already, however, and he almost immediately regretted asking for a translation. Ganymede took no notice of his sudden wariness, and plopped back down in his former seat.
"April," the blonde cooed happily, "has informed me that a certain David Levin will be attending the Vicarious Wade tonight!"
"… the what?"
Ganymede pouted at his flabbergasted expression, leaning forward until his chair threatened to tip over onto the floor. "It's a dancing club downtown, a few blocks from campus. It's the rave! You can't not know what the Vicarious Wade is, Jalil! I knew I was right in taking you out soon. To think that you were that clueless…"
The dark eyed boy groaned, now definitely sure he was going to get a migraine. "Gany, I… I'm not a club sort of person, you know?"
"Well, you will be tonight!"
"You can go ahead without me, you'll be fine. You don't need me to woo the great David Levin, do you?" Jalil asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Not the wonderful Ganymede Ryle, heartthrob of the campus?"
The blonde gave him a disapproving look. "No sugar and carbs has made you really grumpy, Jalil."
"Oh shut up."
His roommate's pout deepened as he leaned even further out in his chair, begging Jalil with his huge green eyes. "Jalil! I need moral support and your friendship in this hour! You wouldn't let me down, would you? April will be there to talk to, and I'll need your help heading him off if he tries to escape…"
"He's not a loose zoo animal!" sputtered Jalil, vaguely wondering where the hell he had ended up when he signed up for this college. What had he been thinking again…?
Oh yes. Good experiences. Jesus.
"He's my love bunny, damn it! Sometimes they just… need to be herded in the right direction, you know?"
"You shouldn't be herding any bunnies. They aren't naturally herded animals, you know."
Ganymede thought about this. "… okay, so he's my love sheep. Better?"
Jalil let out a barking laugh that was disguised as a cough. "Not really…"
"Love buffalo?" Ganymede asked hopefully.
"Getting warmer."
"Love gazelle!"
"We'll be here all day, won't we?"
* * *
It was a certainty now-- Jalil definitely had a headache.
"Ganymede… I'm not wearing that."
The blonde looked as though he were about to cry. "Jalil! It's for the sake of true love-- what more of a reason could you ask for? Besides, it's perfectly normal!" he added emphatically, waving the shining black bundle of clothing around with one hand. Jalil glared at it warily, glancing quickly to the door to see if he could make a run for it.
Unfortuantely, as soon as Ganymede tricked him into the bedroom, he'd had the foresight to lock it. Stupid Ganymede.
"I don't even want to go! I don't care if it's for true love!"
"You're so cruel," mourned his roommate, hugging the dreaded clothing to him. "A cherished buddy comes to you, in desperate need of your services, and what do you do? You coldly refuse to aid him in the one chance he has to find the man of his dreams. What kind of horrible person are you, Jalil Sherman?"
"The kind that does not wear leather," the boy replied sharply.
"But it's shiny," whined the blonde.
"And the kind that doesn't go to clubs!" added Jalil again, nervously eyeing the door once more. Maybe if he tried the window… no, they were floors above the ground, he'd be a pancake on the sidewalk if he tried to…
Ganymede seemed to notice his wandering, because the tall youth glared at him and stepped in front of the window. "You won't know if you don't try. You might actually like clubbing and stuff. Meet a few guys, get on with your life."
"I don't want to meet new men," Jalil muttered darkly. "I'm fine with my life. I like studying and working as a lab assistant. I like staying home every night. I like being single and free to choose what I want, regardless of feelings for my relationship. It's easier. Cleaner. Less worries."
"That's not any fun at all. What about love?"
"I'm not like you, Gany! I don't need that sort of thing yet," Jalil explained desperately. "I've never done well with romance. Just let me go at it in my own pace… please?"
His roommate frowned at him, his whining coming to a halt as he peered anxiously down at Jalil's tired eyes. They just blinked back up at him, pleading and exasperated.
"But… if you don't get out there, someone might take your soul mate away," Ganymede said seriously. He shrugged the bundle of leather over his shoulder, using his free hands to gently tilt Jalil's face up. The young scientist frowned at him, but did nothing to stop the gesture-- a small breakthrough for the blonde, who'd been trying to get Jalil used to physical affection for a while.
"I don't believe in soul mates, Ganymede."
"What about true love?" Jalil hesitated, but shook his head again. "Love at first sight?"
"Love is an emotion brought on by a combination of hormones and nerves in the brain," Jalil stated resolutely. He looked up at his friend defiantly. "Therefore, it's only safe to say that destiny has nothing to do with it… if destiny does, in act, even exist."
"You're such a pessimist," Ganymede murmured, smiling slightly with his usual charm. He let his hands fall away from Jalil's soft face, letting himself be momentarily distracted from his hunt by the stubborn determination in his friend's eyes. "If you keep on thinking that way, you'll never catch the guy of your dreams."
"I don't think he's out there," Jalil replied, but he gave a tired smile. "But thanks anyway, man."
"Just the same… you're going to club with me, whether you like it or not!" his roommate suddenly shouted triumphantly, snatching Jalil's wrists and attempting to wrestle him into submission.
"Whaa-- damn it, Gany, get your paws off me--"
"BEHOLD! The leather king!"
"I can dress myself, you son of a--"
In the end, to protect his modesty and privacy, Jalil was forced into a strict retreat into the nearest bathroom, clutching the outfit and followed by a shouting, cackling idiot of a roommate. He just barely made it before the moron caught up to him.
He slammed the door, and reverently hoped it hit Ganymede on the nose.
'I'm going to kill him one day.'
So that was how Jalil Sherman found himself putting on his first pair of leather pants.
* * *
Of course, it took him a long time to come out of the bathroom.
"Jalil! We're going to be late!" Ganymede called impatiently, peering furiously at his wristwatch. He'd been waiting outside the bathroom to brush his hair for the past hour or so, listening to Jalil mutter dark threats under his breath in the locked room. He still hadn't come out. It was nearing time to meet up with April, and the blonde knew for a fact that it didn't take over and hour to put on those pants.
"JALIL!"
"I'm not coming out!" sputtered the boy in the bathroom, his voice only slightly muffled. "Just get the hell out of here!"
"I'm not leaving without you," his roommate answered firmly, knocking sharply on the bathroom door. "Now get out of there! It can't be that bad."
"I look…" Jalil trailed off helplessly.
"Yes…?"
"Christ, I look like they're about to implant into my skin! How do you fit into these? I'm skinnier than you are, and I can feel individual seam lines, damn it!"
"It's a talent," Ganymede smirked. He nudged the door with his fist again, prodding at the youth beyond. "Now come out so I can see what else we need to do."
The white door slowly creaked open, and Jalil's angry dark eyes flashed at him before he stepped out completely. The black boy frowned, crossing his thin arms over his chest and gazing down critically at himself.
"I feel like an idiot," he started to say, but stopped when he saw the wide-eyed look on his roommate's face. "Gany?"
The blonde just gaped.
"…"
"…"
"… damn it, Ganymede, stop looking at me like I'm a freak!"
Ganymede shook his head wildly, a huge shit-eating grin crossing his gorgeous features. "Well, suck me sideways-- we're going to buy you more leather, Jalil. In large quantity. And make you wear it every single day."
Seeing the praise in the words, Jalil almost blushed. Almost.
Being a young man of already nicely shaped figure, it made sense that the tight fitting leather pants revealed every single curve of the calf, up to where it rode low on sharp, rakish hips. The leather pants dipped over his ankles, being Ganymede's size and slightly too long for Jalil's shorter stature, and molded him perfectly. Although the blonde's first instinct was to go with a similar leather top, he was proud he'd chosen differently-- a raven black silk shirt hung off of his friend's slender frame, clinging in every right place. The sleeves were loose and slid off of Jalil's mocha skin like water, and the V-shaped neck gave a glimpse to the gentle slope of his coffee-colored collarbone.
All in all, it was perfect for Jalil. It made his ordinarily gawky thinness seem more elegant and graceful. The black brought out the light chocolate highlights in his eyes, now gazing worriedly at Ganymede's stunned face.
"Is it… not bad, then?"
Ganymede swallowed. "Not… bad? Well. Um."
"That's it," the new vixen groaned, turning towards the bathroom quickly. "I'm changing right now out of this ridiculous--"
"No! No!" The blonde flushed and grinned nervously. "If, um… I was just thinking that if I wasn't in love with David Levin, I'd have to take a go with you myself. Y'know?"
Jalil looked at him, mouth open slightly and a red tinge appearing on his cheekbones.
"… oh. Thank you."
And that, as they say, was that.
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End of Chapter Three: Next up, MORE Jalil in leather! And David and Christopher! *_* The FIRST MEETING! GLEEEEEEE!!! We also find a new character… because, honestly, did you expect only those five to be the ONLY people from Everworld to show up? *winks*
Yes, I know I spent a huge amount of time on Jalil's description. *drools* Lovely…
Jalil: I feel so violated. -_- You have me wearing LEATHER.
Yup. :D Feel the glory that is the leather!
Jalil: I hate you.
I know. ^_^
God, I love OOCness. ^^;;
Please review and I'll love you foreeeeeeever! *HUUGS* KYAAA! ^____^
Next time-- more LEATHER! MWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA!
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