Jett was down in his and Jeong's basement, as he had been the past few days. He'd barely gone up to eat and had been sleeping down there lately. He had cages filled with rats and other mammals, which he was experimenting on using his magic.
At the moment, Jett stood over one cage containing two mice and observed them, making notes on a clipboard. He reached down and took one of the mice in his hand, holding it as he pumped his magic into its body, seeing how quickly he could get his diseases to settle in. Only a little faster than before, he thought. Jett sighed in frustration. The mouse squeaked unpleasantly.
The Skinwalker was tired. Very very tired and he'd be taking a little trip to Arizona soon. Jett had avoided telling Jeong about that; he didn't want Jeje getting any ideas to come with him. It wasn't a vacation.
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Had he done something wrong? It seemed that these last few days have been filled with an empty house. Yes, Jeong had left meals at the steps for his boyfriend, but it seemed that most of the time he had to either freeze it or throw it away. Of course, Jeje thought that this had something, if not everything to do with him. It was as if they had went through a time portal, where they were back to when hey first met. He hated all of it. With enough strength mustered up, he knocked on the basement door before making a loud and obnoxious creaking to open the door. "Jett?" This time, he didn't stop to see if it was okay; he didn't care anymore.
Jett didn't even look over his shoulder as Jeje came down into the dimly lit basement. He glanced briefly over his shoulder and gave a half-hearted greeting before dropping the mouse back into its container.
Jett dusted off his hands, head spinning from exerting so much energy and turned to give Jeong his full attention. He leaned against the table with his experiments. "Yes?" he didn't mean to sound so aggravated, but he was in intensive research mode. Between searching out immortality and practicing to get more powerful, he didn't have a whole hell of a lot of time on his hands.
Mix all that with actual work and saving up to start a small-time law firm and get some fucking responsibility... ugh, adulting was the worst.
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He looked like shit. Literally, Jett looked as if he hadn't seen the light of day in 10 years, or had a shower, or even eaten in that amount of time. "You have to stop this, please." Jeong knew that those words would only get on his nerves, but what else was he supposed to say? He couldn't allow his beloved to wither away into nothing after all the work he had put in. "Even just for an hour. You need sleep, and to eat and to actually talk to someone. Cramping yourself in this basement isn't doing any good." Jeje wanted a hug, or a kiss or anything.
Jett sighed -- a sharp, angry sound. He slumped a little more and gave Jeong a dark look, not dangerous, just cross. As far as Jett was concerned, these were things Jeong needed, but Jeong and Toby needed more than he could give right now. Couldn't Jeje see he was doing this for them? It was a lot of fucking work. Blood, sweat, and tears. It didn't just fall into his lap. Did Jeje think he--
Jett scrubbed his face with his hands and grumbled something. Something even he didn't know what. Just grumpy, irrational things. Vented frustrations.
When he looked at Jeong again, he was only a little calmer. "Look, Jeong, I know you want attention, but I gotta do this, okay? I don't have time to relax, and I've had enough sleep."
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As much as he wanted to say that he wasn't being selfish; he knew it in his heart. Why else would he have an aching feeling to make him stop? Jett wasn't doing anything to harm himself, or at least to Jeong's knowledge. Jeje was a selfish little thing, but it wasn't all that bad, right? Every noise that he made only indicated that Jett was not at all happy. "I-I'm not being needy Jett. You're acting like some mad scientist and I hate it. I-I mean, you stay down here and wherever you do sleep, well most of the time you just stay down here anyways." Jeong just wanted to help. He was sick of his food getting rejected, his love unwanted. "What can I do to make it better?"
The stuttering and suddenly loss of zest were a good sign that Jett had hurt Jeong's feelings, but he couldn't care. Everything was unraveling, and Jett was down right pissed. Mostly, truthfully, he hurt. Jett had only ever felt this anxiety once in his life. A terrible powerlessness that he loathed. He'd run from it -- ran right to Manta Carlos and Finn.
Jett rubbed his face. "There isn't anything you can do, Jeong because you didn't do anything wrong. I'm just trying to work. I'm trying to find solutions for us. I'm trying to advance. That takes time."
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"But are you sure that you don't need any help?" He didn't want to persist, but being cooped up for this entire time. It felt inexporable. This spiral of frustration was eating him up; Jeong didn't want to handle it face on. "I know that it, probably isn't wanted but you can use me." Being used was a comfort for him, the poor thing. Now, there was no preppiness in his voice, all of the compassionate tones that he once carried had been lost for sure. "And I can't just sit back while you do all the work either. As much as this is important to you, being left in the dark about your progress or difficulties doesn't help me. I'm not useless to you, even if I don't have any fancy powers or a high intelligence."
"Is that what you think?" Jett asked, feeling contempt for it all. He stalked closer to Jeong; he wanted to touch him, but he didn't because he felt it might have scared Jeong if he gave into the urge. "Haven't I told you before? I love you! Why do you still think I find you useless? If I found you useless you'd be fucking dead, you i--" He cut himself off, jaw clenched and closed his eyes.
When Jett spoke again, his voice was deceitfully soft. "No, Jeong, I don't want to use you. That's the last thing I want. Yes, feel free to stay down here, maybe you could help, maybe you could just talk with me. I don't know, but if that's what you need, then stay."
He turned his back on his boyfriend to resume looking over his experiments and marking data down in a chart. He couldn't focus on them, though, not with Jeong there, watching and wanting to talk with him. All too aware he was being watched. He didn't like having his back turned to Jeje.
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This voice was so firm, like some robot that was trying to learn what tone was. Though they were sweet sentences; it only made him jump in his skin. Yes, Jett loved him, but he wanted him to show it. Jeong knew though, how hard it was for Jett to show how he felt. An exponential about of effort needed to be out in every time he did. "Yeah." Was all he could say, reaching his hand out to him before he turned away. This was for them, of their future. Jeong only slumped over on the wall, half conspicuous of how filthy it felt on him. He hated filth. "I just want to be here for you, even if you don't, look at me or reply back. That's okay." Of course, Jeje was just trying to convince himself of this.