Entry #12050104001305

Precursor Breakfast

The chill of the room was what had Tim stirring awake, the cold seeming more pronounced than the fading warmth of the mattress beside him. As his eyes finally opened a crack, he realized it was morning. Dim light through the thin curtains - with the presence of light, they seemed nearly sheer - was cast upon the room, lighting it just enough so that Tim could clearly see that he was alone. The blanket on the other half of the bed was pulled back, curled up, and wound in all kinds of ways, leaving it wrinkled in disuse.

Still half asleep, Tim was disoriented as he looked around the room. He wasn't in his house, that was for sure, so where was he? It took some serious thinking and a few long moments before Tim remembered that he no longer had a home and that he had spent what he could remember of the previous day driving to Jessica's house. So it only stood to reason that he was in a bedroom at Jessica's place.

Remembering pieces of the night before, Tim knew he had laid down with Jay. He vividly remembered the feel of the other man wrapping his arm over him and cuddling up close to his body. If that was the case, then where was the man now?

Though it was silly, Tim immediately felt the urge to find Jay, no matter where he was. A small sense of anxiety always settled upon him when he didn't know where his partner was - he still couldn't believe that Jay was, indeed, his partner - and he quietly pushed himself up, scooting to the end of the bed to get his duffel bag.

Pain shot up his left leg, making the limb throb beneath the black cast. Okay, meds first, finding Jay second.

Leaning over the edge of the mattress, Tim snagged a hold of the strap of his bag and tugged it closer, digging through the soft contents until he found the plastic bottles. The loose contents of the small containers rattled against each other as the bottles were pulled from the bag and a few pills were dumped into Tim's palm.

Having taken his medication, Tim proceeded to pull out whatever pieces of clothing he grabbed first and put them on.

Dressed in a pair of dark grey sweatpants and a light blue tshirt, Tim fumbled under the bed for his crutches until he found them; ready to find Jay, Tim stood, shoving the metal crutches under his arms and heading toward the common areas.

The minute his foot hit the laminate wood floor of the hallway, Tim could smell some kind of food from the kitchen and heard the sound of Jessica talking quietly. By the time he arrived at the end of the hall and entered the kitchen, it was obvious the others could hear his approach. It was difficult to sneak up on someone when the thump of crutches accompanied your every step, after all. Every head was turned in his direction, including two familiar masked ones.

"Glad you could make it," Jessica said as Tim stood in the entryway. The man nodded dumbly before slowly making his way to an empty spot at the dining room table.

"We were beginning to think you weren't coming," Jessica continued and Tim momentarily felt a comfortable domesticity accompanying her words, like they were a family and had been waiting for Tim to arrive. The illusion vanished quickly though as he took a seat at the square, wooden table beside Skully. Across from Tim, Hoodie was staring blankly at him, his hands shoved into the large front pocket of his light-coloured hoodie. After only a few minutes, the staring was beginning to make Tim uncomfortable, so he turned his attention to the other cryptic.

Sitting to his left, Skully's head was tilted down toward his chest. Though the mask obscured Tim's view of the man's face, he seemed to be asleep, his chest steadily rising and falling with every slow breath and his hands resting loosely in his lap. The thing that stood out to Tim though was the red and black flannel that rested over the man's shoulders. A simple black shirt was under the open one, but Tim knew where it had come from. It was one of the last things he had packed and he was almost positive he had set it on the top of his other clothes, though he wasn't sure why he remembered such an insignificant detail.

Besides the two shirts, Skully was dressed in his boxers and something about that seemed odd to Tim. Both of the men - Hoodie and Skully - always seemed to want to cover as much of themselves as possible, perhaps to keep their identity hidden? Tim wasn't sure why, but whatever the reason, it seemed strange to see Skully dressed so casually.

"Is he asleep?" Tim finally dared to ask, nodding his head once toward Hoodie.

At the sound of Tim's voice, Skully's head snapped up, the eyes behind the mask darting back and forth before landing on the man to his right. Some of the tension seemed to leave his body and he stared blankly at Tim, completely ignoring Jessica as she set a plate in front of both Tim and himself.

Tim said his thanks to her before beginning to eat breakfast. It was awkward having Skully stare at him the entire time - even Hoodie had abandoned their staring contest as he pushed up his mask partially so that he could eat - but he knew better than to question it. Instead, he simply copied Hoodie's example and began eating his own breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast. As he ate, he occasionally glanced over to see Skully staring at him but after realizing that the man wouldn't be doing anything else, he gave up looking altogether.

"Well you guys are a lively bunch," Jessica commented as she took the only available seat to Tim's right.

"I know," Tim simply replied before taking another bite of food, glancing up over his cup of coffee to see Hoodie still eating. While most of his face remained hidden, something about him seemed familiar. So little of his face was exposed, but the exposed area gave Tim a feeling of familiarity and he only realized he was staring when Hoodie's head jerked up to stare back. A second later, his black-gloved hand was tugging down the black fabric of his mask to hide his face again, the remaining food on his plate left abandoned as he abruptly stood and retreated into the living room.

"You can eat," Jessica suddenly said, her eyes never leaving her plate. "It's not like we're going to stare at you."

She paused to take another bite before adding, "Besides, we already know what you look like."

Jessica finally glanced up to look at Skully and then Tim. A grin appeared on her face and she quickly tacked on, "Trust me, Tim loves the way you look," before averting her eyes back to her meal and continuing to eat.

Tim nearly choked on his food as he looked over at her, quickly glancing at Skully to see him remove his mask hesitantly, setting it in his lap as he began eating his meal. His hand was clenched into a fest around his fork, scooping his food awkwardly in a way that reminded Tim of an infant using a utensil for the first time, though Tim supposed that wasn't too far off for Skully. The hand in the man's lap twitched across the mask, running his fingers over the smooth surface and rough edge of the mask before rapidly tapping the thing. Though lightning fast - Tim wasn't wholly convinced he hadn't inhaled his food - Skully miraculously managed to finish half of the food on his plate before he jerked his mask back onto his face and pushed back from the table, fleeing into the living room like Hoodie had.

"Don't worry," Jessica said, giving Tim a smile when she noticed how somber he looked, "I'm sure he'll come around soon."

"I was supposed to protect him," Tim sighed, tossing his fork down against his plate with a harsh clink; he was surprised he hadn't taken out a chunk of the porcelain.

"I've had this problem my whole life but Jay... He wasn't supposed to get drug into this. He was supposed to be normal."

"Hey," Jessica said with a stern tone and Tim glanced up to see her face matched her tone. "This whole situation might not be conventional but it doesn't mean you're some kind of freak. This is the hand you guys were dealt and even if you had been given a different one, so what? Normal is overrated anyway."

"Jessica, people are going to get hurt," Tim argued in exasperation, letting his head drop into his hands. "Alex already tried to hurt you and no one's seen or heard from Seth, Amy, Sarah, or Brian in years. That can't just be a coincidence."

"It actually could be," Jessica stubbornly replied, "but I see what you're getting at. Alex is dangerous to everyone, including himself. We just... We just need to figure out how to get him back before he hurts someone."

Tim simply nodded, letting his eyes close. Why did everything have to be so hard? Why couldn't he have kept Jay at arm's length like he knew he should have? He couldn't just abandon him now, especially when they had grown so close and Jay was so unstable.

"Okay," Tim finally said, "so let's think of a plan."