the ballad of him and his brain ∙ van mccann (UNDER EDITING)

9

"I... I don't have layers," I stated, crinkling my face at Van. in return, Van just gave me a smirk. 

"uh, yeah - you do." he snorted, his blue eyes landing on me with confidence. "you have so many layers, it's unreal."

I adjusted my position to sit cross-legged in front of him, and crossed my arms. "alright, fine. explain why you think I have 'so many layers', Van."

Van sighed and stood up, strolling nonchalantly into my kitchenette, like it was nothing.

"and why are you so goddamn comfortable in other peoples houses?" I asked, somewhat sarcastically, even though I truly wanted to know the secret to his ways. truly, I just wanted to know more about Van in general.

Van laughed at my question and cracked open a bottle of water. "well," he began, taking a sip, then beaming at me. "I can tell you've been through a lot, and you're damaged from it. the wall you have up is greater than that super tall building in new york that people always talk about." he explained, then taking a deep breath. 

"but what amazes me is that you even befriended me. I don't think you're too keen on, well, befriending people. but, I think you let me in because we kind of mirror each other, if that makes sense." he finished, walking back over to where I sat. I didn't say a word, but I struggled to unscramble his. Van plopped back down next to me and gave me a soft smile.

"and to answer your question, I'm only this comfortable in your house." he mumbled, brushing the stray hairs from my face.

"...really?" I asked, after a few moments of silence had clouded over us. Van looked at me through his eyelashes. "what?"

"you're really only comfortable in my house?"

"basically," he responded. "I'm pretty comfortable at my mates houses, but they can stress me out sometimes. you never stress me out."

"you have other friends? I'm offended," I teased, bumping my body playfully into his. he chuckled,

"yeah, but I've known one of them since we were babies, two of them like everybody because their always a little lit and the other one is kind of quiet, like the creepy-quiet, but nice-once-you-get-to-know-them kind of 'quiet', if that makes sense."

I laughed, and it felt good. no one's made me laugh in a while.

"so, if you must know, Jane Doe, I am definitely most comfortable at your house and I could live here forever." he blurted, his tone casual, leaving me unsure how to respond.

"I thought my nickname was Sunshine," 

"it is, but I could have millions of nicknames for you."