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WHO: Dirk & anyone.
TONE: Serious with Jane, ?? with others
RATING: G for now
WHEN: Thursday, March 14th
WHERE: The library
WHAT: Open log!
STATUS: Ongoing.

It's not unusual to find students studying in the library, and that's where Dirk has apparently decided to do his work this evening, if the large stack of books next to him is any sort of indication. He's flipping through most of them, occasionally reading entire passages, but more often simply taking a glance and jotting something down on the parchment in front of him. From the stack of books around him, he's been doing this for a while.

Every so often, he gets up from his seat to shelve one volume and grab down another, taking the long way through the shelves to go get each book. Why? Well, asking him might get a result.

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Jane needs just one more source for her essay, and the only one on mushroom reactions to pixie wings is surely in this sec-- Dirk. Dirk is holding it. Dirk is standing in front of the bookshelf, making sure he's grabbed the right one.

She could still duck behind a shelf or something. He hasn't seen-- Merlin, he sees her.

"H-hi Dirk. You, um, you need that?"

Dirk had looked up from the cover as he heard someone coming around the corner, just in time to see Jane before she tries to duck away. He pauses for a long moment. He's barely seen Jane at all since the whole problem with the love potion, and he definitely hasn't talked to her. He hasn't been sure how to talk to her, because how do you bring something like that up? "Oh, so I fell in love with you for a few days, which was incredibly awkward. Can we move on from that?"

But he's not about to bail now. He keeps his expression calm, with the help of the shades, and nods. "Were you looking for it?"

Jane nods back, cheeks immediately flushing bright pink. "I, um, yes. I need it for an essay. I can wait, if you need it, I--"

No. No, she needs it, it's the only one!

"--I mean, I can stay up late, I guess, but the paper's due tomorrow so, um, if you can spare it..."

Dirk lifts an eyebrow at that. It definitely sounds like she's trying to avoid him. That must have been really awkward for her after all. He holds it out to her.

"I bet we're using the same sections? Why don't we share?" he offers carefully. "We can get the work done faster that way.

"I-- um, okay. That's fair." Jane shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Um, lead the way, Mr. Strider!"

Why. Is. This. So. Awkward.

"Oh." Somehow, he wasn't expecting her to accept, with how eager she seems to actually avoid him for the rest of eternity. He was expecting her to say no again, so that he'd have to insist on at least giving her the book first- because he, after all, is the one used to staying up late for his work, school-related or otherwise.

But he brushes it off anyway and shrugs, turning and nodding toward the table he's commandeered for himself. "You got anything else you need?"

"No, it was just this one."

Jane takes a seat at the table, sitting a little more primly than normal. She is going to be polite and proper, even if she's a little afraid of being too friendly.

"So, um, how have you been?" Pause. "I've been, um, busy."

Oh, lying now, are we? Jane winces a little, looking down at the table to avoid Dirk's eyes.

"Yeah, it's that time of year," Dirk says, as calmly as he can manage. He sets the book as evenly between them as he can manage, then starts flipping through the pages. "I've had to catch up in all my classes, after missing the first half of the year."

"Oh, dear, I can't even imagine. You must be so stressed out..."

She hesitates for a moment, wondering if she should apologize. After all, she certainly added to his stress, didn't she? She was the one who made him come see her egg, after all...

Jane brushes the hair from her face, exhaling a tense breath. "I'm, um. I'm sorry for adding to that, if I did. That mess with the potion must've-- must've been quite a pain."

She ignores how admitting this makes her heart clench and her stomach sink.

Dirk looks up from the book, and hesitates before he says anything. He flips a few more pages, stalling as he attempts to get his thoughts in order.

"It was better than it could have been," he says finally. "It could have been someone neither of us know. It's not your fault that there was a potion on the egg."

Jane hesitates, then nods. "Yeah...I suppose that could be. Awkward."

She lifts a hand, runs it through her hair. "It was pretty awkward anyway, though. Making you say those things..." Which you'd never say otherwise.

Dirk shrugs. What can he say about that? He definitely believed what he was saying at the time, 100%. If anything, Jane managed to keep it together more than him, all things considered. "Well, now that it's over, you don't have to feel obligated to ignore me to spare my fragile heart. Seriously. I'd rather have you be my friend than have to worry that I scared you off."

Edited 2013-03-27 01:30 (UTC)

Jane blinks, tilting her head slightly. "Your heart? I...is that even an issue?" She fidgets a little. "I mean, it was only because of the potion that you could even like me, right? I was just worried about it being awkward!"

"I..." Well, it was an attempt at a joke, but it obviously fell flat. Dirk shrugs again, and stares at the book between them as he answers it, as though it can save them from the awkwardness of this situation, rather than making it worse.

"Yeah. It was just 'cause of the potion," he says finally. "So you don't have to worry about things being awkward any more."

"Oh."

Well. That answers that.

"Better get to work then!"

She goes quiet, fighting away all the thoughts that threaten to push their way into her head. She pulls the book to her, flips through the index, gets the information she needs jotted down. Then she closes the book, slides it back to Dirk, and starts gathering her things.

"I'd better go finish writing." Don't tear up, don't look right at him, don't stop moving. "It was n-nice catching up, Dirk."

"Wh-" Dirk glances up from the book, surprised even enough to show through his shades. Jane had been fidgety, sure, but he wasn't expecting her to actually leave so quickly.

Maybe he was stupid to think that. She definitely wasn't looking forward to this from the beginning. So finally, he just nods. "... Yeah. Good luck with that essay." He doesn't say 'see you tomorrow.' At this rate, he doesn't know if he will.

Dave was in a mood. He wasn't quite sure why he was in a mood, but he was in it and he apparently planned on staying there for a while yet.

He hated feeling like that. It wasn't fun for him and it certainly wasn't fun for the people around him. Sadly, that mood had been building in the past several months, and only now was it starting to get the better of him. Not to mention it was making his insomnia worse than normal.

Ugh. Ugh. Dave was pretty sure he had a few sources of the current problems, but fuck looking at those right now.

So, why the hell was he in the library? Because it was quiet and books made lovely pillows, as well as an awesome wall.

Dave spotted Dirk pretty easily. While Dirk's back was turned, he quickly rearranged all the books so that it hid Dave from sight when he sat down at the table. One book was in front of him, he had no idea what the fuck it was, but it was good enough for a pillow. He crossed his arms on the book and put his head down, closing his eyes.

The problem, of course, is in that Dirk has been moving around pretty consistently. So although he doesn't see Dave as he comes back to his seat this time, he does notice as he stands up a second time to put a different book away.

He doesn't approach immediately, considering the way Dave's obviously set up a wall of books around him to block out the rest of the library. Instead, Dirk goes to circle, puts the book back, then approaches Dave from the opposite side.

He doesn't say anything as he approaches, he just reaches out to ruffle Dave's hair as he sneaks up.

He didn't even bother putting up any form of resistance when his hair got ruffled. Neither did he make a face. For all intents and purposes, Dave looked like he was legitimately asleep.

Well, until he spoke up.

"I have 99 problems, and certain classes and crushes are all of them."

The fact that Dave doesn't react is pretty telling, in Dirk's opinion. Even asleep, Dave would have woken up from that, particularly in the middle of the library, unless he'd missed a shitton of sleep for the past few days. It's why he leans against the table and waits for a reaction, and why he isn't particularly surprised to hear Dave speak up.

"An entire 99, huh," he says, to start, but he isn't smirking. "Want to talk about it, bro?"

Dave sighed.

"If I don't, I'll probably claw my face off or something else that's drastic."

He sat up, stretching his arms before sprawling on the chair in an effort to get comfortable. Well, and perhaps to stall a little bit.

"Where should I begin?"

"Well, what's the worst part of it right now?" Dirk ruffled Dave's hair and pulled up a chair of his own to sit in. Dave's not going to escape talking about this so easily, which ought to be obvious in the look Dirk's giving him at the moment.

"How romance is overrated."

He still didn't react to it, other than flattening his hair back down.

"It's like I enjoy putting myself in hopeless situations, and this shit's been going on for at least a year. Guess I'm only now getting tired of it."

"How do you know it's hopeless?" It's only partially a lead-in to attempts at comfort, because it's just as much an attempt for Dirk to learn what's going on. He knows that his own crush on Jake is pretty much a dead end, at this point, but Dave's so close-mouthed about his own problems that it would take more than Dirk's usual casual interest to figure out what the hell is going on.

"Because they're either taken or hung up on someone else or wouldn't be interested. Literally the only one who has shown the slightest bit of interest in me has been a certain Ampora and I'm not exactly encouraged by this." It goes unsaid that he doubts that Cronus is even in it just for Dave and not for simply getting laid.

"Yeah, well, that Ampora's a dickwad who'd show interest in anyone, and he doesn't count for anything." Dirk doesn't mind saying it, because really, he's had plenty of exposure to him over the past few months, thanks to sharing a dorm room. "Things change, bro. They're not going to be taken or hung up on someone else forever." Personally, he wishes he could get over his own crush. And he's sure Jake wishes he could get over his. The problem is, it doesn't seem to be how Striders work.

Dave makes no comment since that is utterly true in regards to Cronus. Still kind of sad.

"No, but it'll still hurt and it's pretty fucking annoying in the meantime. I don't want to feel like that. It's pretty fucking cool that they're happy or trying to get with someone who might be way better for them."

But it doesn't make the pain go away.

He hates his love life sometimes. Or well. Most of the time in regards to this year alone. Dave drops his face into his arms again. He'll still talk, but goddamn it he doesn't need Dirk seeing any of his expressions at the moment.

This time, at least, Dirk doesn't ruffle Dave's hair. He just leaves a hand resting on his shoulder. It might as well be a hug, considering how touchy they actually get.

"If I had a solution to that, I'd pass it on in an instant." He doesn't, though, which sucks because he'd rather like to stop feeling the way he does, too.

Jake watched Dirk take his notes and wander around the library for almost a full ten minutes (he so didn't have the attention span for more than that) before he finally wandered over to him and sat down, chin in one hand and eyebrows knit together.

"Dirk, what are you doing," he asked, frowning. This was possibly the most inefficient display Dirk Strider had ever given in the time Jake had known him. He was concerned and a touch alarmed.

Dirk glanced up from the textbook he was currently browsing, one eyebrow raised over his shades. "Working," he said. There was a hint of "obviously" in his tone, but honestly, he was being pretty inefficient and he knew it.

Jake only blinked at that, as though waiting for Dirk to further explain his strange behavior. When no further explanation came, Jake inhaled sharply and added a simple "oh," to the conversation. Then he set his chin a little heavier in his palm and glanced at what Dirk was writing.

"...should I let you be, then?"

Dirk glanced up again, then shook his head. "Nah, no need to go away. Sorry, bro. I can multitask." To prove it, he stuck a bookmark in the text in front of him, then set it aside.

Jake shook his head briefly, shrugging his shoulders. "No need, really, just making sure you're all right. You're a bit... off, chap."

"Define off, dude." Dirk frowned behind his shades. Clearly, whatever Jake was seeing wrong was misinterpretation, as far as he was concerned. Surely Dirk wasn't doing anything different from normal.

"Well, for one thing, I've never seen you meander in such an inefficient way in all my years of knowing you." He scratched at the base of his hairline, as though accusing Dirk of behaving oddly was chastising.

"It's called taking a break," Dirk says to start, with a shrug. "This essay has a shitty prompt. It's better that I at least attempt to work than I just put it off until midnight." He wouldn't be unproductive, but side projects are still not schoolwork.

"If you're sure," he offered, folding his arms over the table and grinning.

"I am." Dirk proceeds to return his attention to his paper, apparently attempting to ignore Jake completely. It works for the span of about a minute, after which he doesn't look up, but he does start talking again. "Don't you have work to do?"

He raised his eyebrows for a moment and quirked his mouth.

"I can go, if you'd rather." Dirk was funny about people being in his space sometimes.

"That's not what I meant." His voice is kind of sharp as he says it, because he didn't mean for Jake to go away, he just meant for him to stop prying. It isn't doing any good, obviously. Dirk attempts to focus on his paper for a moment longer before sighing and rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "Shit. No, you don't have to leave. I'm just being a dick."

"There's a reason I'm here pestering you for your time, chap," he said with a smile. "You've been funny and short and a little grumpy, and I'm worried. You're always a little funny but you're usually calmer." He grinned. "But you don't have to tell me. Just know I'm here if you want a chat!" Jake you're sweet sometimes. And also egregiously oblivious.

Patently oblivious, even, and although it doesn't show on Dirk's face, he's struck by that fact at the moment. The problem is, Jake is half his problem. But there is another half to it, for once, one that he can actually talk to Jake about. "I think Jane's been avoiding me."

Oh look, a breakthrough! And continued absolute obliviousness. He beamed for a moment and scooted closer to the table.

"I must say I agree-- you've both been avoiding each other, from what I can tell. Did something happen?" Jane had mentioned there had been an incident with the snake eggs and love potions, but he didn't know if she would be upset with him for sharing that she'd told him that with Dirk.

Time for him to ignore how a beaming Jake makes his stomach flip-flop, as usual. "I don't fucking know," Dirk admits. "I tried talking to her earlier, but she just left." It's left him feeling rather guilty, all things considered- hence the utter lack of productivity.

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