Chapter Text
“Mashed potatoes? Is this really… all we’re having for dinner?”
Pomni looked over at Jax, for once he didn’t have that usual smug grin on his face. He didn’t respond to her question, seemingly zoned out as he pushed the food around on his plate.
Noticing her gaze, he stood from the table. A forced smile on his face as he walked off towards the bedrooms.
“Welp! This sure has been fun! I gotta go check on my centipedes, see you guys tomorrow~”
Besides a grumbled complaint from Ragatha, no one seemed to have any comment on Jax’s rather sudden departure.
Not wanting to draw attention, Pomni waited a minute or two before following Jax. Finding his bedroom door closed, she hesitated.
”go ‘way Pom… Can hear you outside my door.”
Pausing as she thought about her next move, she noticed how different his voice sounded. Softer and a bit slurred. Maybe he had gone to bed?
”Jax? Listen, you don’t have to talk to me or anything. I just. Wanted to let you know that I’m here.”
She decided to lean against the door in thought, waiting for his response. Though she was quickly interrupted as she fell into the room. Apparently, the door hadn’t even been latched properly.
Before she could even register her fall, Jax was on the move, running and darting underneath his bed.
”Get out Pomni! Go away! Leave!”
She rubbed her head as she sat up. This was her first time seeing the inside of his room, and it was a bit shocking to see. His room looked like something you’d expect from a little girl. Then again, she wasn’t one to judge based on poor room design.
The floor was covered in various toys and books. A table in the corner was upside down. The bookshelves sat empty. Scratch marks were on the wall, along with some backwards Polaroids, haphazardly taped back together after being ripped.
She shook her head as she heard a sniffle. Slowly closing the door, Pomni crouched back down and approached the bed.
”said go a’way pommy… leave me alone…”
”Jax? Has your room… always looked like this?”
She decided to sit down a good arms length away from the bed, her back towards it. Whatever was going on with Jax was clearly really upsetting him, and she knew that they’d get nowhere if he felt like he was being perceived.
”…dunno.”
Pomni fidgeted with a ball, rolling it on the floor in front of her as she tried to think of the best way to continue.
”Would it help if I cleaned it up for you?”
She heard movement, realizing he was probably shaking his head.
”uh… Jax I can’t see you.. Could you maybe… I don’t know… how about knock once on the ground for yes and twice for no. Would that be okay?”
knock
”okay… okay! Good! So, would you want me to help tidy up—“
She was immediately met with two knocks.
”Alright, alright, no cleaning. Got it. Do you… uh… are you okay with me staying sitting in here?”
The knock took longer this time, a good minute passing before she heard it.
“Okay, good. So uh. What do you want me to do? Er, I guess I’m supposed to be asking yes or no questions, huh? Not just yapping randomly—“
She was cut off by two knocks.
”No? No as in no more questions?”
Admittedly, it was hard to not chuckle when she heard an annoyed sigh behind her. She sat for a minute, not quite sure how to continue. That is until a crumpled piece of paper hit her arm. She instinctively turned to look at the source, only to see a blur as Jax scurried back further under the bed.
She sighed, unfurling the crumpled paper. Scrawled in crayon, it read, “yap is ok”.
”Oh. You just want me to talk for a bit? That makes sense, sometimes it’s nice to just kinda… coexist, ya know? Takes the pressure off of you if you’re not the only one in the room. I… don’t know if there’s anything specific I have to talk about, I guess you can knock a bunch if I start talking about something you don’t like.”
She paused, uncertain if she was making the right choice. But when a single knock answered her, she took a breath and continued on.
”Well, I will say that I like your room better than mine. It’s at least less of an eyesore. Though we both have fairly childish rooms. It’s a shame, I feel like a kids bedroom would be nice to live in if it wasn’t some ai approximation of one.”
She heard a shifting under the bed, though was careful not to acknowledge it.
”Back in the real world I actually wanted more of a childish feel to my room. Guess I should’ve been more careful about what I was wishing for, huh? There was a short period of time where I tried age regressing as a way to cope, but—“
A long series of knocks cut her off.
”Got it. Don’t want me talking about regression?”
”mm not little… or anything stupid like that…”
She hated how startled she got, realizing Jax’s face was now peeking out from under the bed. At the very least, her heart attack seemed to amuse him and lighten the mood.
Recovering from her scare, she looked over at Jax.
”You wanna… maybe move up onto the bed? I can’t imagine it’s very comfortable under there.”
He shook his head no, so Pomni turned back away to continue talking. But before she could even start, she heard the squeaking of his bed frame. Turning around, she saw Jax bundled up under a pile of blankets, sitting on the bed as far from her as possible.
”…stop lookin at me..”
Jax whined, waiting for Pomni to turn back away. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he pulled his second favorite blanket out from under the pile.
Looking over the red and blue blanket, making sure it felt right, he tentatively threw it towards the end of the bed. The movement enough for Pomni to feel the air rush by her.
Turning towards him once more, she saw the red and blue blanket sitting on the bed next to her.
“Is this..? For me?”
The bundle of blankets nodded. He inched closer and patted the edge of the bed before withdrawing once more.
”oh! Why thank you!” She smiled before grabbing the blanket, unsure if she had understood the nonverbal message quite right.
”you… want me to sit on the bed too?”
A slower nod came from the blankets, a bit more hesitant than before.
Pomni sat on the bed, careful to leave a bit of space between them. As she looked around the room once more, she saw the flipped photos that were hanging on the wall. Before she could do anything, she was interrupted by a tentative “..nooo..”
Scooting away from the photos, she laid down on the bed. Letting herself get cozy under her blanket.
She didn’t know when she had dozed off, rubbing at her eyes sleepily. As she opened her eyes she noticed Jax curled up in a ball next to her, eyebrows furrowed in his sleep.
Debating only for a second, Pomni closed the gap between them, rubbing small circles on his back until she heard a faint purr.
If she had to guess, she assumed it was probably around midnight. Yawning, she decided it couldn’t hurt to rest her eyes for just a bit…