Hey Sunshine

Inej and Kaz Voted For the Stripper Pole

"SO THIS IS THE GUEST ROOM," Matthias told him gesturing to the room. His eyebrows rose - this place was massive when compared to his old place. Scanning the room, his eyes focused on a brass pole in the middle of the room - right next the bed, which was shoved into the corner - and he raised his eyebrow.

"Um, is that a stripper pole?" he asked Matthias.

Matthias sighed. "Yeah. There was another apartment I wanted to get, but Jes, Nina, Inej, and Kaz outvoted me in favor of the stripper pole."

"Inej and Kaz voted for the stripper pole?" Wylan asked bewildered.

"Nina voted for the stripper pole," he clarified. "Inej voted for Nina."

Realization hit Wylan. "And by default, that means Kaz voted for Inej," he said. Matthias laughed uncharacteristically.

"You've gotten the hang of us that means," he said smiling. Wylan laughed at that, before remembering Jesper's silence. The laugh faded and there was silence for a while.

"Hey do you know why Jesper was acting weird about me staying here for a while?" Wylan asked uncertainly, not sure if Matthias was willing to talk about it.

Matthias hesitated before shrugging. "Jesper has some problems," he said slowly, looking at Wylan's expression.

"I know that, Kaz mentioned them. But Jes' never told me about them, so I decided to wait until he did," Wylan explained. Matthias nodded.

"They exist, and I think he's scared that if you see them, you'll decide that he's not worth... being with," Matthias said with some difficulty. Wylan's mouth opened with outrage.

"What? In what world would I decide that leaving Jespe-"

"I'm not saying that you will!" he defended, raising his arms in a surrender position. "I'm saying that in Jesper's head, he might think so. He's scared Wylan."

Wylan nodded. "I should go speak to him about this, shouldn't I?" he asked Matthias. "Yeah, I'm going to."

Matthias shook his head. "It's late." Wylan's lips pursed as he saw the 11:00 on his watch. "Why don't I help you get settled in this room, and then you guys talk about it tomorrow?"

He sighed wearily, thinking about Jesper. Images ran through his head - Jesper starting the YMCA chant, Jesper getting the position of ring bearer in a completely unorthodox way (that may or may not have actually involved getting rid of the actual ring bearer), Jesper laughing, carefree and wild. His chest hurt.

"Sure," he decided. "But tomorrow morning, the two of us are going to talk about this."

#

Hours later Wylan was staring at the ceiling of the room (which, he had discovered, had shockingly good glow in the dark paint - and who and why did anybody think that was a good idea?) tiredly. "Jesus Christ," he whispered to himself, listening to the words fade into the air.

His mind flashed back to his life before Jesper, before the rest of them all. Before Sergie. Would his apartment still be ruined?

I could call father, he thought to himself. He laughed to himself - the day Jan Van Eck willingly helped his son would be the day Wylan proceeded to check him into an asylum.

Pit-pat. Pit-pat.

Wylan frowned. Was it raining?

Sitting up wearily, he winced as bits of his body ached in protest to the unfamiliar position and looked out the window. It was a beautiful clear night, and he could see every star sparkling in the sky. He smiled despite himself.