[DANGER DAYS] doesn't have to all be destruction

chapter 14: I Hope You're Ready for a Firefight

Author's Note: WARNINGS for this chapter: brief misgendering.

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For the next three days, the pattern continues. Jet heads out into the desert, Party's spirit trailing after him, and tries to learn to control his disaster-summoning powers. So far, he's started no less than three fires, two rainstorms, a miniature sandstorm, brought down yet another meteorite, and, once, created a slight earthquake. Try as they might, he and Kobra can't seem to find a link between similar disasters; he uses the same vague phrase each time, and, apparently, Kobra can feel his power activate, and it just feels the same each time. Jet can't help but be disappointed by that, having hoped that he could somehow control what kind of disasters he causes.

Still, he seems to be developing some control over the scale of the disasters, and, maybe--he isn't quite sure about this part--maybe some control over where the disasters strike. That could be wishful thinking, though, because there's really only so much that can feasibly be hit out here, and maybe lightning only struck that particular Joshua tree because it was the tallest one around. He'll have to work on that some more to be sure.

After he's finished his training, he heads back home to the diner, sometimes sweating from the heat, sometimes soaked from the rain he's called--and the storms haven't been as powerful as that first one, he's glad to see--and goes to sleep until evening, exhausted.

In the evenings, the four of them do separate things. Ghoul and Kobra work on something in the workshop--building and repairing things to trade, or making weapons and other useful tools, apparently--and Jet and Party...don't do that.

Party's still been avoiding Jet, which is driving him crazy, because he'd thought they were...well, he'd thought that he and Party were sort of moving toward...something. But maybe not? It's not like Jet has any experience in...romance, or dating, or whatever.

Growing up in Battery City, he'd had access to BL/ind-sanctioned romantic dramas on TV, all of which focused on a man and a woman, working their high-class BL/ind jobs during the day and coming home to their children who'd spent the day in BL/ind-run schools and daycares. There were very few dramas that even showed a couple getting together, or dating at all, because most matches were made by Better Living Industries itself, pairing up people who would produce the most useful children.

And that was all completely different from what Jet's going through right now, so yeah. He doesn't have a lot of experience with this. Romance is a complete mystery to him.

Maybe Party's just very tactile. Well, they are tactile, Jet knows this--they hang off Kobra and Ghoul a lot, and even before the whole...whatever that was at Show Pony's, they seemed to have no qualms about slinging an arm over his shoulders. Or collapsing into his arms. So he knows that Party's touchy with all their friends, but it just...felt different when it was him with Party, somehow.

The point is, Jet has no real idea why Party's avoiding him or if there's even any actual...like, romantic potential here. And he hates it, but what can he do?

Party's barely talking to him, Kobra just sighs noisily whenever Jet mentions anything about it (both out loud and in his head), and Ghoul...well, Ghoul seems to find the whole situation hilarious, somehow.

So Jet spends his evenings alone, wandering around the desert near the diner.

He doesn't go far, not even over to the collection of buildings a couple of miles away which he now knows make up the main hub of this particular rebel stronghold. He just walks around, looks at the stars, and thinks until it gets too cold and he has to go back inside to sleep.