Chapter Text
“We,” Cat announces with a flourish one Friday night, “are going to Disneyland tomorrow. Set your alarms for seven — I want to be there right at opening.”
Jeremy looks up from the laptop he’d been half-heartedly writing an essay on. “Ooh,” he says with a loose grin. “Hear that, Jean? It’s time for your official California indoctrination ritual.”
The reason for Jeremy’s half-hearted writing — as distracting as he unfortunately is — makes an annoyed noise at being interrupted. Jean has been nose-deep in an economics textbook for at least an hour, taking detailed, methodical notes with that singular work ethic that has made him one of the greatest possible threats on an Exy court. In direct contrast, Jeremy has spent the same expanse of time sneaking glances at him, taking advantage of Jean’s intense focus to trace the line of his strong nose and the contrast of dark lashes fanning across his cheeks unabashedly.
“What is Disneyland?” Jean asks, the word sounding hilariously disgruntled in his accent. He keeps his gaze on his textbook, and a sudden swell of affection rises in Jeremy’s chest at the way he remains utterly relaxed in their presence despite the unknown element just introduced.
Back in June, when he’d first moved to California, he would have hardly allowed them to take him anywhere that wasn't the court. Even now that the Exy season has begun, it’s a testament to his growth that he doesn’t protest Cat’s proclamation.
The little, tiny triumphs that they’ve all started to notice about Jean really, truly feel like healing.
Jeremy wiggles his toes. He’d not-so-subtly snuck them between the couch cushion and Jean’s firm thigh about twenty minutes ago, and feels a slick sort of satisfaction that Jean hadn’t even flinched or shoved him away. On Jean’s other side, Jabberwocky makes a quiet little hrf noise, his small paws twitching as he dreams.
He could stay like this forever, truthfully, though he is a bit excited at the prospect of taking Jean somewhere so far removed from the harsh realities of the past few months.
“The Happiest Place on Earth,” Jeremy says, the capitalized emphasis of his words belied by his faux-solemn tone. He doesn’t let himself dwell on the reality that of course Jean would have no frame of reference for anything and everything Walt Disney.
“That doesn’t answer my question.” Finally, Jean gives up on his homework and turns his attention toward Cat and Jeremy.
Cat approaches the couch they’re working on, leaning over the back to rest her chin on Jean’s head. As always, he relaxes minutely into the touch. As always, Jeremy pretends he isn’t fiercely envious of the easy physical closeness they share.
“It’s an amusement park,” Cat says. Then she frowns. “No, sorry, that’s wrong. It’s the amusement park. A cultural phenomenon. Really, I’m surprised Laila hasn’t demanded that we visit sooner.”
When would she have? Jean has scarcely had a moment to breathe since he transferred to USC.
Unwilling to let his thoughts travel down that dark, tragic path, Jeremy distracts himself. “Who’s we? And who, exactly, is paying for this magnificent excursion?”
God knows it certainly won’t be Jeremy. His mother has been extra-vigilant about his expenses lately.
“Now you’re asking the right questions,” Cat replies. She scratches a few fingers against Jean’s scalp, and Jeremy looks away, unable to avoid wishing he could do the same. “I think about half the team is planning on going so that we can all bond — it was Cody’s idea, of course. My beautiful girlfriend is sponsoring our household, and everyone else is scraping together the cash because they don’t want to miss the opportunity to see what Jean’s face looks like when he tries cotton candy for the first time. Pat and Ananya already have annual passes, at least.”
Jean’s brow furrows as he clearly disregards the bulk of Cat’s rambling in favor of focusing on what he thinks is most important. “Where is Laila getting the money? I can—”
“Nope,” Laila interjects as she sails into the room, hair wet from her recent shower. Jabberwocky twitches awake at the sound of her voice, his tail thumping against the couch cushion as she beelines toward him. “It’s my insurance money, and I can do with it what I want. The only words you’re allowed to say are Thank you about it.”
“Thank you,” Jean says obediently, though Jeremy would bet his left arm that he’s already trying to figure out some way to repay her. Given his prior (in)experience, Jeremy is fairly certain that Jean has absolutely no idea what it costs to live. He should be squirreling away the money he made selling his Audi, not clambering at the idea to throw it at the girls. Jeremy can’t help but be endeared, though, by how much he wants to splurge on his friends.
Laila starts cooing over Jab as he begins vigorously licking at her fingers, drawing Jeremy out of his thoughts and back into the conversation.
“It’ll be fun,” he says, trying to sound encouraging. “Have you ever been on a rollercoaster before?”
“No.” Judging from Jean’s expression, that is less of a No, I have not, than an, Absolutely not, you can’t be serious.
“Yes!” Cat crows in counterpoint. “You’re legally obligated to have fun there.”
This is clearly far from comforting to Jean. Jeremy bites his lip to stifle a smile and presses the ball of his foot into the toned muscle of Jean’s leg. “If you end up hating it, we never have to go back. Give it a chance?”
“Alright.” Jean catches Jeremy’s foot between his fingers, looking like a man on a mission, but he’s distracted when Jab abruptly changes targets, wiggling out of Laila’s grasp to half-climb into Jean’s lap. When Jean’s hand drops to pat awkwardly at the dog’s head, Jeremy once again shoves his ill-timed envy down into the deep recesses of his mind.
It’s a dog, he reminds himself. There is no reason that is not completely absurd for him to be so jealous.
“Bikes or car?” Laila asks, levelling a look at Jeremy that means I know exactly what you were just thinking. “I’m fine with either.”
“Car,” Cat decides. “We should all go together. I'll need to pack some things for all of us, anyway, so we can use the trunk for storage.”
It'll be good for them to get out of the apartment, he thinks. Jeremy isn't entirely sure that Jean is going to have anything even remotely close to fun, but at the very least he'll be able to get out of his head.
It's been a long time coming for them all in the wake of the fire, that's for sure.
Tanner is all-too-happy to watch Jab while they're gone for the day (Cat correctly guesses that the freshman will do just about anything for his apparent mentor). When Jean asks, it's incredibly transparent that there will come a time when Tanner tries to leverage the favor to make Jean teach him a new Raven drill, but Jeremy has absolutely no intention of getting in the middle of all that.
It's enough that Jab will be taken care of so that the three of them can focus wholly on the trip, Jeremy thinks. They all deserve a day where the worst thing that happens is they get stuck in a long line or someone pays a frankly ridiculous amount of money for a souvenir.
In a thoughtful move that will undoubtedly prevent a future meltdown, Cat packs lunches for them all alongside multiple bottles of electrolyte drinks. Jeremy hasn’t been to Disneyland in years — and he refuses to think about when the last time everyone in his family had all been together in some vague semblance of something approaching happiness — but one thing he does know is that Jean will absolutely loathe any and all of their meal options.
He murmurs, “You’re so darn smart,” to her as she passes him a handheld cooler.
“I know,” she grins back, dusting a kiss against his temple. “We’re going to make this a good day for your boy.”
“He’s not—” Jeremy protests instinctively, wrinkling his nose as Cat draws back and cackles.
“Come on, Jer. You can’t fool me.”
Pretending not to understand a single word she’s saying, he turns on his heel and leaves the kitchen so that he can place the cooler by the front door. If he doesn’t talk about how he feels aloud, if he doesn’t think it even within the safety of his own head, then it isn’t real. It isn’t a legitimate problem he needs to confront.
(It’d be easier if they were still in Laila’s house, popping quickly down to the driveway to stock the vehicle. But they’re not there anymore, and living on the second floor of a large complex doesn’t grant them such a convenient luxury. But Jeremy doesn’t think about that, either.)
He spots Jean fidgeting awkwardly at the lip of the entryway, fully dressed and glaring down at the rows of shoes they have lined up by the door. The fact that he has so many pairs, ranging from his sturdy combat boots for riding to a pair of Rainbow sandals Jeremy had to weedle him into buying, is momentous in and of itself. It’s a far cry from the singular pair he’d arrived in when Jeremy had picked him up from the airport.
“Wear your court sneakers,” he suggests, gesturing at them with his free hand. They all have two pairs provided by USC — a pair for practice, and a pair for games — and Jeremy had suggested they start bringing them home instead of stashing them in their locker cubbies shortly after they’d moved to the Lofts. Between Jabberwocky and Jean’s ramped-up anxiety, they go for a lot of impromptu jogs these days.
Jean's face distorts into an expression of disgust at the thought of utilizing part of his uniform for something other than Exy or athletic conditioning. Honestly, it reminds Jeremy an awful lot of Kevin, and he bites his lips to hide a smile. “We're going to walk a lot, and I know you can run twenty miles a day in those things. You're not going to get in trouble for utilizing school-issued sneakers off campus, I swear.”
“And what will you wear?”
“I’ll wear mine if you wear yours?” Jeremy replies cheekily. They’ll be close enough to LA that the vivid red-and-gold sneakers certainly won’t seem out of place. It doesn’t hurt that they’re the comfiest shoes Jeremy owns, either.
With a nod, Jean crouches down to slip them on. Feeling a ridiculous surge of victory, Jeremy flashes him a thumb’s up as he drops the cooler off in the narrow hallway leading up to the front door.
“Why do you look like the cat who got the cream?” Laila asks as he heads toward the bathroom, thinking about grabbing some sunscreen from one of the cabinets. She snags his wrist, and he dutifully pauses so she can pop a baseball cap onto his head.
“We’re going to match!” he chirps. When Laila makes a questioning noise in response, he changes course, plopping down in the entryway to put his own sneakers on. He shakes his unlaced feet at her.
She rolls her eyes. “You’re ridiculous. I love you.”
It doesn’t take much longer for them to finish getting ready. Jeremy already took Jab out to go to the bathroom, though he looks slightly distressed by all of the hustle and bustle of everyone within the apartment. While they wait for Cat and Jean to join them, he and Laila give him copious amounts of belly scratches before giving him goodbye kisses as they all depart.
“Crap,” Jeremy says approximately three seconds after they all pile into his car and he starts the engine. “I meant to grab us some sunscreen. Be right back.”
“I’ve got it,” Jean says quickly. He presses one hand briefly against Jeremy’s collarbone to keep him in his seat, and the touch is so gentle yet firm that Jeremy is helpless to do anything but comply.
He offers Jean a shaky smile. “Oh. Thank you.”
Jean stills for the scantest of moments, too brief to truly be a hesitation, before he slips out of the car and heads back inside. The car is silent for a solid ten seconds — Jeremy knows because he counts — before Laila says, breathily, “Oh. Thank you.”
“Oh, thank you,” Cat repeats, pressing the back of her hand against her forehead as she dramatically swoons into Laila’s lap.
“You have about ten more seconds,” Jeremy says loftily, tapping impatient fingers against the steering wheel.
“Please,” Laila scoffs. “It’ll take at least five minutes for him with the stairs and all.”
“Sorry, I misspoke.” Jeremy cuts a glance at her through the rearview mirror. “I’m giving you about ten more seconds before you’ve burned through your allotment of teasing me.”
“Shit,” she says, whipping her head around. “We’re almost out of time, then. Don’t think I didn’t notice you being jealous of a fucking dog, mister.”
“Aaand we’re done,” he says. Acknowledging any of their specific words is vastly beyond his purview right now, so when Cat opens her mouth to protest, he adds, roughly, “Enough. Please.”
If it were someone else, he would’ve leaned into a petty parting shot, but it’s Laila and Cat. He doesn’t need his words to hurt to convey his point. Teasing is all well and good, but the two of them should know better than to shine a spotlight on this for too long, not when they all know that Jean is strictly off-limits.
Cat’s expression softens as she goes quiet, and Jeremy feels the taut line of his shoulders relax.
Jean takes a bit longer than all of them anticipate. As he climbs back into the car, a sheepish expression lighting his face up and making him look years younger, he explains that Jab had been so excited upon his re-entry into the apartment that he’d felt guilty about leaving him behind without another impromptu cuddle. Judging by the scraggly dog fur sticking to the fabric of Jean’s shirt, he’d let Jab crawl all over him.
Jeremy doesn’t even need to look back at Cat and Laila to know they’re watching him like a hawk as he fights to keep his expression neutral in the wake of how much he adores Jean Moreau.
“Ready?” he asks, forcing himself to buckle his seatbelt and check his mirrors to keep his hands and mind occupied. Thankfully, nobody says anything other than an affirmative. At this early time, they hit no traffic as they merge onto the 110. Everyone is quiet in the sleepy hours of the morning, and Jeremy tucks the peaceful lull of the drive beneath his ribcage with not-insignificant affection.
After all, the drive to his family’s house from their apartment takes roughly the same amount of time. He’s used to this routine of spending a not-insignificant amount of time driving, but with Jean sitting shotgun and his best friends dozing on each other in the backseat, he vastly prefers this commute.