Lamenting by the Lake PV Ruka Burnett-Tân Finished

((OOC note: The entries in this post were made on the OOC date of May 30th, 2020.))

Jack Burnett wrote:Smirking, Jack acted as if he didn't notice the change in the other's demeanor at first. But the mention of Flash caused him to drop that façade. "Flash? Pft. Probably not enough yet to send each other after people. They'd be more likely to get jealous that way. Why?"

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Ruka tilted his head to the side thoughtfully as he thought about how to approach the subject. Best to just get it out with, probably. Rip it off like a bandaid. “I kissed him,” he said meekly, a bitter tone to his voice as he buried his face in his knees for a moment. “Flash, I mean. Thought that might be why the Gryffinprick had it out for me at first.”

Jack Burnett wrote:"You, uh - " Jack blinked and did a double-take. "...Sorry, what?"
He grinned as though he thought Ruka might have been pulling his leg.
"You mean...like how I kissed Rafa and Gem?"

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:A little snort escaped Ruka as he looked back up at Jack but his expression was pained, like it physically hurt him to think about the incident. “I mean I kissed him,” he said, as if that would clarify everything. “I don’t know,” he continued, rubbing the palms of his hands against his eyes almost violently. “I don’t know. I just panicked. He wouldn’t stop touching me and I didn’t know what to do.” He shrugged lightly. “It was either kiss him or punch him.” A small bitter laugh escaped him. “And I’m not a violent person.”

Jack Burnett wrote:The more Ruka spoke, the more Jack grew gradually more alarmed. About what, he wasn't sure, but the back of his mind distinctly did not like the phrase 'he wouldn't stop touching me'.

His grin slowly faded as he noticed Ruka's palm-rubbing. "Whoa, whoa, hey. Slow down, it's fine," he said, putting a hand on the older boy's. "I mean...that definitely sounds close to why I kissed Rafa. Remember? He wanted me to hit back after he hit me, but I wouldn't. So I used psychological warfare and kissed his cheek so he stopped. And Gem wasn't trying to hit me, but he was making me uncomfortable too -" though not with touching, "so I also kissed him. You're not the only one who kisses out of self defense. It's fine; don't sweat it."

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:A small smile curled around Ruka’s lips at Jack’s words. He knew if there was one person who was able to make him feel less nauseous about the whole matter it would have been Jack.

“Don’t think Flash realised that’s what it was,” he admitted, shaking his head lightly as he squeezed Jack’s hand gratefully. “Pretty sure he wanted to kiss me again for a moment there.” He pulled a face before he shuffled onto his knees, getting uncomfortably close to Jack to fuss with the other boy’s hair and put a hand on his cheek. “I’ll learn how to love your scars, Ruka,” he vaguely misquoted in a voice he thought at least somewhat resembled Flash’s, mockingly and exaggeratedly batting his eyelashes before pulling back again to giggle childishly at his own re-enactment of that night.

Jack Burnett wrote:Jack snorted loudly and unintentionally at Ruka's comment that he was 'pretty sure he wanted to kiss him again for a moment there'. Again, he couldn't help thinking of it as all some sort of hilarious joke until the Gryffindor failed to laugh or show any other sign of amusement. Instead, the older boy made a face and got closer on his knees to mess with Jack's hair before putting a hand on his cheek. He wasn't sure what was happening until Ruka spoke again and it all clicked.

"Pfft...wha? Really?!" Jack asked, still grinning madly, but no longer laughing on the inside. Something about the whole thing was making his stomach churn. Especially if Flash had behaved as seriously as Ruka was making him out to be. "Heheh...so...does he like you, then?"

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Still giggling lightly at his own acting skills, Ruka sat down again, lightly bumping his shoulder into Jack’s before sighing heavily.
“Why would he?” he asked, resisting the urge to bite his lip. “Not like I’ve ever been particularly nice to him.” Face paling, Ruka quickly shook his head as if the thought made him nauseous. It kind of did. “Think maybe he just... needed some affection, and I just happened to be there.”

Jack Burnett wrote:Glad Ruka could find some humor in the situation, he bumped shoulders back before chuckling softly. "Tân...don't you know emotions aren't always logical? Some people like other people because they're not nice to them. A little worrying, sure, but it's the truth." He stopped, however, when he saw the change that the idea seemed to bring over Ruka. "Uh...well, I mean, I could definitely be wrong, but...I'm...not sure...that's how needing affection works..."

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Feeling a little restless with all that uncertainty of this conversation, Ruka let himself lean against Jack’s side for a moment, hugging his knees close for some form of comfort. “I shouldn’t have gone after him,” he said bitterly. “He left Willow and Alan’s birthday party, and he looked so out of place there anyway. I went after him to find out what was wrong, thought it’d be more interesting than the party.” He shook his head at his own stupidity. “Not sure how he took that as an invitation to get his hands all over me, but...” He laughed humourlessly, turning his head to look at Jack with almost pleading eyes. “Somehow felt worse than almost drowning in a fountain.”

Jack Burnett wrote:Instinctively putting an arm around Ruka, as that's what he felt his own dad would have done, Jack pulled the other boy close and listened attentively. Then he smiled upon hearing what Ruka did. "No," he answered when Ruka was done. "I think you...you probably really helped him, Ruka. Even in ways maybe neither of you realize. You cared about him and his feelings, which no one else does. Not even his own..." he made a face and quotes with his fingers. "...so-called 'sister'."
He gave the other boy a sad little smile back when he looked at him. "Where did he put his hands on you?" he asked almost teasingly. "Isn't that what I'm doing right now?"

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Ruka relaxed almost instantly as Jack put an arm around him, the tension melting away like ice under a flame. "I didn't even know he has a sister," he said, frowning lightly. "Didn't know you guys know each other so well either." A teasing grin spread on his face as he pushed a little closer against Jack in an attempt at a playful nudge.
The Slytherin's next words, paired with that sad smile made Ruka avert his gaze for a moment as he shrugged lightly. "Feels more comfortable with you," he admitted, a faint blush colouring his cheeks. "I was probably over-reacting." He shook his head with a sigh. "You're right, it shouldn't have been any different from this right now, right?"

Jack Burnett wrote:Jack laughed aloud at that. "Oh, we don't know each other all that well. Even as dorm mates. I just used to taunt them about their matching friendship bracelets and the walks he takes with her sometimes in the early morning, but she insisted they were more like siblings than anything." He rolled his eyes. "Not that I know much about siblings, but I'm pretty sure most keep track about how they're feeling even during their own birthday party."

The Slytherin looked back at Ruka. "And I mean, I can see his goals and intentions well enough since they match close enough to mine even if his methods don't. But I don't know much about him as a person. Just speculation." He sneered. "Until now. Things like the fact that he kissed you. And apparently liked it."
He nudged Ruka back playfully, feeling sorry he'd made the other look away. "Hey, don't be like that. I'm sure you weren't overreacting. But, er...where was it you kissed him again?" It bothered him a bit that Ruka hadn't elaborated on where he'd been touched, but he tried not to let it show.

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Ruka's eyes widened in realisation. Jack was talking about Willow. He hadn't realised they saw each other as siblings. "Best friends," he said, almost thoughtfully and with a hit of disapproval. "Maybe I just don't understand enough about friends or siblings." He shook his head, nibbling on his bottom lip for a short moment. "But if that's what they're like I think I don't want either."

He shuddered lightly at Jack's words about Flash having liked kissing him. He didn't really want to think about the implications of that, so he didn't elaborate for now, simply made a small retching sound at the back of his throat.
Looking back at Jack with a small grateful smile at the reassurance, he tilted his head to the side in question. Was the other boy asking for... a location? "Somewhere over there, I guess," he said, waving a hand in the vague direction of the brush and shrubbery Flash had tucked himself away in that night.
He lifted a hand as he wanted to elaborate on what exactly had happened there, but he was unsure how to explain any of it in words. Anything he could have said would have come out either embarrassed or spiteful and he didn't feel like either of that really described how the events made him feel.

Jack Burnett wrote:"Hmm?" Jack's brows rose at the title of 'best friends'. But then he laughed at Ruka's following comment. "Well, I don't understand enough about either of those things myself," he answered. "But the 'siblings' bit we're probably going to have to get used to soon enough. I mean that's probably why you feel more comfortable around me than Flash, right? Because we're practically brothers already?"

Any traces of a smile vanished when Ruka shuddered and Jack's brows absently furrowed. He hardly glanced the way the Gryffindor gestured. "No, Tân," he replied more seriously. "I mean where did you touch your lips to him? Like for Rafa and Gem, I only kissed them on the cheek, since I know in some places that's just like a common greeting. But...it's starting to sound like this was more than that."

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Jack's words made Ruka's stomach flip with a whirl of emotions he wasn't fully able to comprehend and take apart in their essence. He blinked dazedly as he looked up into Jack's face with a little smile. "Yeah," he said with a tiny shake of his head. "That's probably why." It was the best explanation he could rationally come up with anyway.

A little "oh" escaped him as Jack corrected his own question to what he had actually wanted to know. Ruka would have thought he had made it quite obvious, wasn't exactly happy to elaborate with words, so he moved his hands to touch his own lips. "Here," he said, voice breaking midway through the word before a wave of guilt made him press his face against his own knees again for a second. "Took that away from him, I guess. First kiss. That's supposed to be special, right?" At least that was what he had gathered from stories and observation. "He'll never have that now and it's my fault."

Jack Burnett wrote:Ruka's breaking voice and physical behavior made Jack wonder if he had any right to touch the older boy just then. After a minute, however, he hugged him closer than ever. "Shh...Ruka, it's okay," he said softly. "All that first kiss stuff is just silliness people make up for fun, I'm pretty sure. And anyway...it sounds like...it might have been pretty special to him? At least if he...seemed like he wanted to do it again...?"

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Being held close like that, Ruka allowed himself to rest his head against Jack's shoulder, letting himself tremble with the jumble of emotions inside him for a few seconds. He laughed lightly at the thought that the kiss may have been special to Flash at least. "Still s'posed to be with someone who wants to kiss you just as much, isn't it?" he pointed out, reaching for Jack's hand around his shoulders to squeeze his fingers for comfort.

Jack Burnett wrote:Allowing the squeezing of his fingers, Jack was quiet for a bit. He had been watching and waiting for Ruka's reaction to judge whether the other young man was solely upset for Flash's sake...or if he was attempting to conceal some emotions of his own. It had seemed to be clear to the Slytherin at first, but he'd gently prodded at the subject one more time to confirm his suspicions. What he learned did not comfort him; he hadn't liked the sound of Ruka's light laugh in response.

"Tân...this is more than just about Flash...isn't it?" He rested his head against the Gryffindor's gently. "It bothered you a lot, didn't it? Kissing him. On the lips."

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Ruka shuffled around lightly to find the most comfortable position while still being pressed closely against Jack's body, head still resting on the other boy's shoulders until Jack talked again, making him lift his head to look at him questioningly.
"I guess," he said, shrugging like it barely mattered. "It just felt... wrong. Didn't exactly want my first kiss to be like that either." Not that he'd thought about his own first kiss much at all, but that definitely hadn't been the way he'd pictured it. "Ruined it for both of us, I guess."

Jack Burnett wrote:The Slytherin sighed deeply, ending it with a groan. "Why do you all act like your own worries and feelings are the last things to matter? Maybe they are to you, but that doesn't mean they are to the rest of us! If something's bothering you that bad, next time, why don't you start with that?"

This time, Jack turned to put both arms around Ruka in a full hug instead of a side one. "It doesn't matter if it's your first kiss or five-hundreth kiss. You're the only one who can keep accurate track unless you have a serious stalker. And likewise, you're the only one who decides if they have meaning. Otherwise, what difference is there between a kiss and a random brush of lips?" He playfully ruffled the other boy's hair. "Don't give yourself so much credit. I doubt you ruined anything."

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:It wasn't what Jack said, he realised that, but what Ruka heard was "I care more about your feelings on the matter than about the rest of that story", and in a way it made Ruka feel a rush of happiness flooding his chest. He didn't think he'd ever met anybody who'd genuinely cared for his feelings, but Jack had a way of making him feel like they were relevant.

Easily accepting the hug he was given, Ruka nodded his understanding against Jack's shoulder, only pulling back when his hair was ruffled, pulling a grimace at the other boy. "I deserve all the credit," he said playfully, poking his tongue out at Jack childishly for a moment. "I bet I'm an extraordinary kisser. No wonder Flash wanted more." He let out a chuckle despite the way the thought still made his skin crawl lightly.

"Speaking of," he added quickly as if eager to change the topic now that it was done, eyebrows raised. "What about you?" He teasingly nudged his elbow against Jack's side. "The girl from the ball... uh... Erin? Your girlfriend?" His tone was playful but his gaze curious. "Your mom sent me a letter. Said you asked for a bunch of flowers to ask out a girl. Purple ones? I figured... The purple hair." He shrugged lightly as if it wasn't all that important and reached for a grape off Jack's plate to pop into his own mouth.

((OOC note: The entries in this post were made on the OOC date of June 2nd, 2020.))

Jack Burnett wrote:Jack sneered at Ruka's comment about deserving all the credit, but he looked down, his face flushing a bit in embarrassment, when he went on about being an extraordinary kisser. When Ruka changed the topic, he seemed just as grateful for it...at least until he realized what the subject was.

"Oh...that's...a long story..." he said sheepishly. "Apparently I look enough like her so-called boyfriend that she thought I was him. That was the night I met Thomas, but he didn't tell me anything, so I just went along with it. Fangs found me, though, and helped bail me out a bit by addressing me and letting me use him as an excuse without blowing my cover."

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Ruka's face fell when he noticed Jack looking away at his comment, his shoulders tensing a bit. Had there been anything wrong with what he'd said? He'd just wanted to get some humour back into the conversation.
Instead of prodding at it and possibly making Jack more uncomfortable, he decided to move on from it, listening intently to the other boy's explanation.

"So she thought you were her boyfriend," he summarised, brows knit together in confusion. "And in turn you... asked her out to a ball?" As much as Ruka believed it made sense in Jack's head, it really hadn't been a sufficient explanation so far, and definitely not a straightforward answer to his question.

Jack Burnett wrote:Jack, who had been lost in thought for a moment, realized all at once how random what he had said sounded to Ruka once it was relayed back to him. "Oh...sorry, no. See, Erin is...part Veela and a pureblood. I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but I guess she...grew up without emotions? Apparently pretty recently she had done some favors for some crones that I'm really starting to think were hags, because they gave her a pendent that gave her emotions." He sighed. "I just...she reminded me a bit of...Fangs. How she didn't know what a real boyfriend or even a real friend was. She was ready to marry her own brother if she had to just to keep their blood pure."

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Ruka hummed thoughtfully in response to Jack's story, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "So you tried to.... to what? Make her see what she was missing?" He shook his head lightly, tiredly rubbing a hand across his eyes. "That doesn't sound like it could backfire at all." He shot Jack a teasing grin before turning his head away. "Or did it already?" He thought back on the ball and how Thomas had repeated Jack's name in Erin's direction with so much purpose. Horror crossed his face as he paled lightly. "Did I blow your cover?"

Jack Burnett wrote:The younger boy sighed. "I know, I know...but...I kind of knew that. That's sort of why I did it." He rested his chin in his palm, playing with a few blades of grass between his fingers of his other hand. "She was so obsessed with pure blood that I knew once she found out I was a mudblood, my looks wouldn't matter to her any more. In the meantime, though, I thought...I could...maybe try to teach her what a friend was. A real friend, not morons surrounding her like Thomas who just wanted to stab her in the back first chance they got..." He rolled his eyes. "Yeah...I accidentally answered to my name once. Before I had gotten away with it because she used to think the other Jack was her boyfriend, so when people called me Jack, I just said they must have confused me for him. Apparently she even kissed him on the mouth, too."

Glancing at Ruka, he smiled sadly and shook his head. "I guess I wondered if maybe I could get her to see that blood didn't matter. But I got careless. I also didn't know she already had a friend - that round Ravenclaw - or that her emotions were starting to make her behave like a hag."
He shook his head, putting his face in his hands. "I thought I could also try to figure out why and how she became emotionless...and apparently, Oliver Hart, the Ravenclaw...his mother is the same."
Jack groaned softly. "I was kind of enjoying making her so happy. Being there for her when she'd never had anyone before. But...I also kind of kept thinking at the back of my mind that I'd pay for my treachery eventually with her hate. It was like knowing I would eventually get a proper punishment made it seem okay to me.

"Even then, though...it could be helpful to her. A lesson that emotions aren't worth the pain they cause."

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:All the information gotten in such a short time made Ruka's head swim a little, but he understood the gist of it. The concept of people without emotions and hags and magical pendants was too much for him to really wrap his head around but like with so many things going on at Hogwarts he figured it was best to just go with it.

After a moment of silence, Ruka reached out for Jack's plate once more, taking a few grapes off it before half heartedly throwing them at the other boy. "You're so full of shit," he said, rolling his eyes. "Why show her something she didn't know before in the first place to teach her a lesson?" It wasn't like he didn't understand the way his underclassman's mind was looking at the situation, but that made the flaws in the concept even more obvious to him. "You wanted her to be happy, even if it was just on borrowed time. You cared." He drawled the last word teasingly, knowing it wasn't necessarily something Jack would like to admit to. "Because it is worth it, isn't it? Even with everything gone to shit, at least she had that. At least she knows what she's really supposed to look for now." He shuffled around a little bit, tilting his head to the side thoughtfully. "At the end of it you're the one drawing the short stick, as per usual. You and Flash could start a club or something."

Jack Burnett wrote:"He-hey!" Jack yelled, trying to catch all the grapes as they were thrown at him. "Whatever happened to not wasting food?!" He frowned as he popped one of them in his mouth. "Sometimes lessons have to be taught the hard way. Anyway, she was going to have emotions whether or not I did anything to stir them up. It's not entirely my fault."

At the drawled word, Jack cast Ruka an incredulous look. Then, placing the grapes on the plate, he shook his head. "No. I don't think she does. I don't think she knows. She just thinks I was fake for whatever reason. She doesn't know what I was after."
He made another face at Ruka. "If someone always has to be the one drawing the short end of the stick, might as well take it. Especially if you know you can accept it with the most grace," he added, winking.

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Ruka let out a little laugh at Jack's words, shaking his head fondly at the other boy. "They're still perfectly good grapes, even if they touched some grass. Or your face," he pointed out, reaching over to pinch Jack's cheek teasingly before quickly withdrawing his hand to pop another grape into his own mouth.

"Still knows what emotions can feel like now," he mused, shrugging his shoulders lightly. "Might have been a lesson, but I don't think it was 'Emotions aren't worth the pain they cause'."

Ruka looked away for a moment at Jack's next words, a sorrowful expression crossing his face. Despite chuckling weakly at the other boy's wink, Ruka could feel a hard knot forming in his throat. "You don't need to constantly hurt yourself just so others can't do it first, you know?" he said weakly, gaze fixed on his own knees. "You're not..." He shook his head, unable to finish his thought in any way that he was satisfied with. Looking back at Jack he managed to curl his lips into a slight smile. "I know what it's like to suffer in silence," he said instead, shrugging lightly. "I don't want it to eat you up from the inside like it's doing me."

Jack Burnett wrote:The boy shook his head again. "She had taken off her pendant last I saw her. Good thing, too. She was starting to say Jake smelled delicious..."
The comment Ruka uttered next caused Jack's eyes to widen in surprise before he chuckled. "Oh...is that what I'm doing...? Hm...nah." He shrugged. "People hurt people regardless of whether or not they do it first. There's never a limit to the pain one can feel."
Then he reached over to flick Ruka in the head. "Practice what you preach, fire dancer. Or no one will take you seriously. We're too alike as it is."

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Ruka blinked at Jack in confusion for a moment. "Delicious?" he asked, a hint of terror in his voice. "As in... edible?" He wanted to laugh but it seemed like Jack wasn't joking so he kept a serious expression.

Jack's shrug made Ruka sigh lightly, shaking his head. "People can only hurt you if you give them that power over you," he pointed out like it was a fact rather than a belief. Being flicked in the head made him swat at Jack's hand like it was an annoying fly, but it made him laugh anyway. "I'm trying," he said with a little shrug, poking his tongue out at Jack for a moment. It was true, they were alike in a lot of ways, and yet so different in others that Ruka could never quite seem to get a grasp on where their similarities ended and their differences began. "Just trying to look out for you too."

((OOC note: The entries in this post were made on the OOC date of June 20th, 2020.))

Jack Burnett wrote:"Yeeeah...it gave me the creeps," Jack answered, giving Ruka an awkward smile. "Pretty sure it was the pendant making her act that way. Wonder if it's possible to turn her into a hag with it eventually..."

The boy blinked when his upperclassman mentioned giving people power over oneself. Then he laughed. He also believed the same thing, but...it was harder to resist giving some people that power than it was for others. At least, that's what Jack thought.

"I know. Thanks," he answered with a grateful smile. "I'll never become as strong as you if I don't build up my pain tolerance, though. Especially for the emotional sort."

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Ruka swallowed heavily, eyes focused on the tense smile on Jack's face. "Isn't that something a teacher should know about?" he asked. "I mean... Magical pendant turning someone into a hag sounds like adult territory to me." After all, teachers had far more spells in their arsenal, potions maybe even that could be helpful to the situation, right?

The laugh Ruka got in response to his claim about giving people power over yourself made the Gryffindor smile slightly, leaning over to bump his shoulder lightly into Jack's.

"As strong as me," he repeated with a strangled giggle as if laughing at an inappropriate joke. "You overestimate me. Easy to be strong when you have no other choice." He shook his head to himself, offering Jack a small smile should he catch his eye. "Sounds to me more like you're setting yourself up for disappointment over and over to figure out how much you can take before it breaks you." He averted his gaze, staring at a spot on his throw blanket, next to the plate of food. "And I don't think I'll be able to handle it when it does."

Jack Burnett wrote:"Yeah...probably," Jack sighed. "I just...wouldn't know who to tell. I'm not really on friendly terms with any of the teachers and none of them are particularly more approachable to me than the rest..."

He snickered when Ruka lightly bumped shoulders with him. "That's not underestimating you. It doesn't change the fact that you are. Anyway, maybe I should find situations in which I have no other choice, then." His grin faded a bit at the other boy's assessment and his gaze dropped; ironically the same time his companion looked away. Maybe Ruka was right. "Maybe we can keep each other from breaking, then. Be each other's support."

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:With a thoughtful hum, Ruka let his gaze drift across the lake. "You could... write a letter to your head of house?" he suggested, pulling a face at the thought. He definitely wouldn't be sending his own Head of House any letters, but his one encounter with the Head of Slytherin had given him the impression that she was quite easy to talk to. She had even offered Ruka himself to come talk to her whenever. "Met her recently. She seems nice enough?"

Ruka snorted quietly at Jack's words about finding situations he had no other choice but to be strong in, but he decided not to comment. Life probably held plenty of situations that warranted emotional strength even without having to go looking for them.
"Yeah," he said quietly as he looked back up at Jack with a fond smile, and he couldn't help but wrap an arm around the other boy's waist to pull himself closer against him, resting his head against Jack's shoulder again. "I'd like that a lot."

Jack Burnett wrote:"Yeah...I guess," Jack sighed, thinking. "Talking is so much easier than letter-writing, though...especially with as much information as I've gotten on the hags. And with all the questions they or I might need to ask." He paused, then looked over at Ruka and sneered. "You think so? Well...you weren't one of the ones who got caught in her office because Seilun had some hair-brained idea to sneak into it for the US's Mother's Day..."

Blinking rapidly, he found himself pulled close, then smiled as Ruka rested his head against his shoulder. "Okay, then. I think it might just take some practice, though. Since...well, y'know..." He scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "...We're probably both more used to just depending on ourselves."

Ruka Burnett-Tân wrote:Ruka let out a burst of laughter at the information that the Slytherins had broken into their Head of House's office for Mother's Day, but it calmed down again quickly in favour of the seriousness of the conversation. "Guess you're right," he agreed on Jack's statement that talking would be easier than letter writing. "I could always come with you if that helps?" He shrugged his shoulders sheepishly as if unsure if his moral support was even wanted.

Keeping his position closely pressed against Jack, Ruka let out an amused hum, nodding against the other boy's shoulder. "If I was gonna depend on anybody but myself again, it'd be you," he admitted with a small laugh bubbling from his lungs.

Jack smirked at Ruka's laughter regarding their mishap with the Mother's Day office break-in. Then the second year was offering to come with him to talk to his Head of House and it was the younger boy's turn to laugh.

"Why, because you have so much more of her favor than I do?" he teased. Then, folding his arms behind his head, he lay back across Ruka's blanklet to stare up at the branches of the tree under whose shade they rested. "Thanks. But I think I'll be able to handle it. I just have to think of what to tell her and how."

Not that he was going to say so, but there was also the matter of people he could have irritated or angered by telling an adult what he knew. Thomas or Erin might not take his informing on them so well and he didn't want to risk Ruka also earning their ire if that was the case. At least he himself knew what he would be risking in telling Professor Jensen what he knew.

When Ruka pressed closer, Jack unfolded an arm from behind his head to tug at Ruka and pull him down to lie next to him on the blanket. "That means a lot," he told the copper-haired Irish boy in response to his comment about depending on him. "I hope for both our sakes you don't have to, though. I'm not a very dependable person."

Popping a few more grapes into his mouth from the plate they had replaced them on, he murmured, "Think we'd get in trouble if we decided to take a little nap out here in the sun for a bit?"

@Ruka Burnett-Tân

@Jack Burnett
Stop spoiling me with tags
Never stop, ily

"Laugh it up," Ruka said, rolling his eyes at the other boy. "But you just said it wasn't me who got caught trying to break into her office so yeah, I think I do have more of her favour than you do right now." Poking his tongue out at Jack, Ruka bumped his shoulder against the other boy's arm before letting his expression smooth out into a lazy smile.

A curt nod hid a short pang of disappointment.

"Alright," he agreed lightly, rubbing a hand across his left knee while averting his eyes as Jack settled down on his back. "Just let me know if you do need anything." He chanced a smile in the other boy's direction before looking out across the Grounds with a far off spark in his eyes. "I'm here for you, you know." It wasn't a question, just a fact. He trusted Jack knew just how true it was.

Allowing himself to be pulled down to lie on the blanket he had brought, Ruka felt his breath getting caught in his lungs for a moment, but his breathing returned to normal as quickly as it had faltered. "Think you might not know yourself the way I do, then," he said, reaching a hand out to wrap around Jack's without any particular intent. The contact seemed to calm any anxiety he hadn't been aware of having.

Shuffling into a better position, Ruka watched Jack pop a few more grapes into his mouth with a fond smile on his face. The sunlight reflecting off Jack's hazel eyes made them look almost black from where Ruka was watching the other boy's movements with contentment. "I don't mind trouble," he decided quietly, letting his lips quirk into one last smile before his eyelids fluttered shut, his cheek pressed against Jack's shoulder and his hand still clutched around Jack's fingers.

A nap sounded like exactly what he needed.