Jean and Alvarez’s first conversation from this fic:
Once Jean’s coffee was brewed, he headed back into the living room, resigning himself to the fact that he would not get to sit in his favourite chair.
“Actually, Jean, can I talk to you for a minute?” Alvarez was already standing from her seat, so he figured this was more of an order than a request. He almost said no, just to prove that she didn’t have any authority over him, but he figured putting off this particular chat wasn’t the best idea.
He set down his coffee and headed for the door. Alvarez seemed to take it as the invitation it was and followed after him.
Barely a moment after the door clicked shut, Jean grabbed her by the shoulder and slammed her back against the wall. He used his forearm to pin her, but she appeared to be too stunned to move either way.
“I will only say this once, so listen closely.” His voice was hardly more than a growl, but he couldn’t risk talking loudly enough that Jeremy would hear. If Jeremy was really so ignorant as to how his team truly functioned, Jean wouldn’t be the one to break the news. “I don’t know what ideas you’ve gotten, but I am not to be fucked with. Earlier was a fluke, and I will not let you capitalise on it. I answered to Riko, now I answer to Jeremy. No one else. So abandon whatever shitty plans you’ve been brewing up because I can guarantee that you will only fail. I have survived shit you couldn’t dream of and I am not afraid of getting my hands dirty.”
There was a second where neither of them moved, neither of them breathed. Jean’s scars ached. His sneer felt like it had been carved in place, and in some ways it had been. He felt raw, feral, terrified in a way you could only be after living through your worst nightmare. He would not go back there. California would not become another nest, and he would tear himself apart to make sure that was true.
“What the fuck?” Alvarez hissed. She looked just as scared as he felt.
Jean’s sneer turned into a crooked smile. “Not what you expected?”
“No! I came here to apologise, dude.”
“Well too– Wait what?” He would have said she was bluffing had she not looked so earnestly confused.
“Yeah man, I gave you a hard time earlier when clearly you were struggling, and I mean after what you just said, like no shit you aren’t doing well?”
That took Jean a minute to process. He had been so sure that this was going to be a brawl at best, an intricate blackmailing at worst. Why did she give a shit about him? They didn’t know each other, and he certainly hadn’t been welcoming.
He took a step back, shoving his hands into his pockets. She just crossed her arms, incredulity clear across her face.
“Uh, sorry, I guess. That is not what I thought you were going to say.”
“What, did you think I brought you out here to threaten you?”
Jean rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling his face heat. “Not exactly.”
Alvarez’s gaze dropped to the scar on his cheek, then to his hairline, and finally landed on his tattoo. “Dude, what the actual fuck. Are you okay? No nevermind, don’t answer that. Like, is there someone I should be punching? Cause I can totally do that, no problem.”
Jean wasn’t entirely sure how they had gone from him assaulting and threatening her, to her offering to beat someone up for him, but that was something to figure out later. “I appreciate the offer, but he’s been taken care of.”
It took a second for it to click. When it did, Alvarez’s expression shifted from confusion to horror. “That is literally so fucked up. You know that’s fucked up, right?”
“I’m gathering.” Well, he had always known, but he hadn’t exactly had anything to compare it to.
“I never did like him. There was something about him where you could just tell he was an asshole. I mean, before the shit with Josten and everything. That made it a bit more obvious. Although to be fair Josten’s a little shit too, just for different reasons.”
Jean had no idea how to respond to that, so he remained silent. Though he had to admit, he was now curious about what she thought of Neil because it seemed like they were in full agreement.
“You’re terrifying by the way.”
He wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not. “So I’ve been told.”
That earned an amused huff from Alvarez, which Jean took to mean there was no bad blood between them. He went back inside the dorm to find Jeremy and Laila in the kitchen making sandwiches.
“Babe, Jean is fucking scary. Also we’re adopting him.”
“Good to know. Jeremy has no mustard because he’s a heathen.”
“Jeremy, why do you hate me?”
“You both know I don’t like mustard, I’m not sure why this is a surprise.”
That comment seemed to ignite the girls’ mustard-related passions, and they began relentlessly berating him for his lack of taste. Jean had to admit that he agreed with them, but he wasn’t about to say it out loud.
“Jeremy, why did she say she’s adopting me?”
“It means she likes you. Congratulations.” Jeremy shoved a plate with a mustardless sandwich at him, and Jean figured that was as much of an explanation as he was getting.
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