Frenzied Spirits

Come As You Are

♕

"Didja know that Julie had a crush on Nea?" Jake had heard Frank say, as they passed the bottle of champagne between the five of them.

Cheryl had joined them at some point, having found Kate almost immediately after she'd gotten back. She was sitting close enough to Kate that he could see their knees touching, and Jake had to wonder if they were together, or just friends.

He and Frank were just friends , but Jake was still wearing Frank's coat, finding himself wishing it still smelled like him instead of whatever closet it had been hanging in. It smelled metallic- like it'd been sitting there for far too long without anyone bothering with it, and that was probably the truth.

And Frank somehow always smelled like some cheap ass cologne but Jake found he liked it, and that it was growing more and more comforting to him.

Definitely not a just a friend reaction, but Jake wasn't ready to accept that his feelings were so strong- at least not yet, but there was just something about him. He felt that everything started making sense to him when he met Frank, and it was stupid and irrational for him to feel this way, but if he had to guess what it was like to have a connection with someone's soul, he'd guess it was the way he felt with Frank.

Jake pulled his knees to his chest, gaze settling on Nea, and doing his best to ignore Frank's newly-found confidence.

"Wait, what? Is she hot?" Nea asked, stealing the bottle from Frank's hands, "I haven't seen her without a mask, and I was pleasantly surprised with what you looked like under there!"

Frank let out a laugh.

Jake found himself scowling at Nea's admission- not like him at all to feel jealousy over anything, and quickly forced any lingering feelings out of his mind. Now was not the time for this, he was supposed to be having fun.

"She's pretty, what else can I say? We dated a little back home, but she needs someone better than me. Good news, though, if you ever can get close to her without her stabbing a knife in your back, she's into girls!" Frank teased, "We're all a little, y'know."

Jake watched as the man flicked his wrist.

"Weird?" Kate offered, stealing the bottle away from Nea, "'Cause I'd say you're pretty damn weird!"

Frank rolled his eyes.

"I obviously meant gay, but yeah, I guess that too!"

Kate giggled, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, I think that's pretty common here, I mean, not that it's talked about much but everyone's pretty private about that sort of thing. Dunno why, maybe we don't want anyone to think we're picking favourites to save, but you clearly did!"

Kate made a vague gesture towards Jake, and Jake found himself shoving his face into his jacket-covered arm.

He still wished that it smelled like Frank.

"Alright, how 'bout you try killing someone that looks at you like you just kicked a puppy, and then we'll talk!" Frank scoffed, "And he always does everything to protect you guys, I had to cut him some slack!"

Jake couldn't believe his ears, silently watching the pair argue back and forth about him. He didn't really know how to react to the attention, especially when it came to Kate blatantly calling out the way Frank felt about him.

"No, no, Jake made you soft ! Jake is a little shit head, there's no way anyone would go easy on him with how he sabos those hooks!" Kate was giggling her head off at this point, leaning forward with the biggest grin on her face, "You barely even knew him and you were sent to a whole other side for being nice to him. He's special to you, just like how my Cheryl is special to me !"