icebergloungers | I write sins, not tragedies

Edward smiled to himself, reaching up to tuck the finished joint into his shirt pocket for now and then chuckling as he shook his head. "That's the billion dollar question, isn't it? Honestly, life seemed more interested in answering the question of what I don't want lately."

He lifted his head again, brushing his hair back from his face with all fingers of one hand, his eyes now on Jonathan. "I hate the smell, you know. Cigarettes. Always have."

Nevertheless, he stepped closer to Jonathan, as if his personal space belonged to him. "Where are you going, Jonathan? Won't you take me along?"

"I hate it too. I guess I'm a bit of a contradiction in that sense but I find it does just the trick for nerves." He was always a bit rattled, given his childhood it was expected but he had never quite gotten a proper grip on it. Cigarettes helped to quell the anxiety he had over that - anxiety over anxiety. It was almost laughable how stupid that was.

"Look, son, don't take it personally but you wouldn't have the stomach for it. I dunno if I like you or not but I do know that I don't feel any ill-will. Yet."

So far, he was mostly just amused by him. And sometimes a little turned on, perhaps. Not that he wanted to focus on it. "You best not follow."

"Wouldn't have the stomach for it, would I? You better tell me you're talking farm work here, because that's the only thing I'm not even remotely interested in." Now, if it was about killing people, like so many seemed convinced Jonathan did? At least that would be a nice change of pace.

He put a hand on Jonathan's shoulder, because he was playing a game with himself. How far could he go in invading the boy's personal space before he wanted to get away? How far could he got with his flirting before he couldn't take it back any more? "I've done things, y'know? That's how I ended up getting sent here."

"Good for you, city boy. You want a medal?" He exhaled smoke right in Edward's face, just to be an awkward asshole, his mind on one thing only - what did Edward think he was doing that he was so eager? He knew he had a lot of rumours about himself going around but he struggled to keep up with all of them. Jonathan kills animals for fun, Jonathan murders his bullies, Jonathan has sex with guys in the woods, Jonathan is in love with a cow... it was quite the list.

"Why do you want to see something I told you ain't something to see? Is it just cause I told you that you couldn't that you want to? Cause that's kind of stupid, son."

Edward made a face when he had smoke blown into it, but then he decided to be awkward about it as well, ducking his head and leaning his forehead against Jonathan's shoulder. Sure, somebody else could in theory walk out here or walk by, but what did he care? If he could get back at Jonathan by being awkward, he gladly would. He coughed, to be dramatic, then shrugged.

"I'm curious. It's a sign of intelligence. You've made it seem more interesting." That wasn't really it though. Not only that, anyway. Edward lifted his head again, so he could look up at Jonathan, who really was too awkwardly tall. "I like being with you. Feels less lonely. You're the only one around."

"You're too close. You wanna watch yourself." Jonathan reached out and placed his hand firmly on Edward, pushing him back a safe distance and just watching him for a few moments, wondering how to get him to fuck off before he got too invested. The trouble with guys like Edward - they'd always get too invested. He had to prevent that.

"You wanna come then come. You wanna not feel lonely and you think I'm the key? Your funeral, son. I'm not waiting around though. You coming now or not?" He stubbed out his cigarette and then he was already walking, not interested in sticking around.

"Sure." Edward sprinted a few steps, so he could keep up with Jonathan. Seemed like those gangly legs made for great strides. He watched him from the side as he walked, a little amused, as he tended to be. "You keep calling me 'son'... You do realise we're about the same age, right?"

Not that he knew his exact age, but it stood to reason, given the classes they shared. "What's the matter there, Jonny? Got a daddy kink?" Seemed as if he had to ask that at some point.

"Just a thing today around these parts. Interesting your mind jumped quickly to father. not just father... daddy?" He smirked at Edward, clearly amused. Well then, someone had daddy issues. Not surprising, honestly, he seemed far too needy to be well adjusted and there was a reason he had been sent here. Family issues ranked high.

He unlocked his car door and slipped inside, moving his bag off the passenger seat for Edward and tossing it in the back. "What would you rather be called? Edward?"

"Daddy kink is a thing too, Jonny. Maybe it hasn't reached these parts yet." Edward grinned as he got into the car on the passenger seat, doing the seat belt up, since he remembered Jonathan wanting that last time. He could comply. "Ed. Eddie. Edward. I'm not that particular. Call me 'master', I could get into that."

He glanced at his watch, since it wasn't as if he had a cell phone to look at - he got searched every time he left the house - then leaned back. "Always gets dark quickly here. After it's so goddamn bright all day."

"It's not summer, the days are shorter. You get more sun but it's still spring, you know? Christ almighty, you're not gonna cope with summer at all." Jonathan thought it was awfully amusing that Edward found the current level of heat and sun difficult - it wasn't like it was actually all that warm lately. He started up the car and drove off, noticing the woman in the window of the diner was watching them leave, glaring at Jonathan in particular. Edward was bound to get a warning later. This place was not fond of him, he was a Crane after all.

"If you keep hanging out with me, someone will talk and that talk will reach your family. You'll soon find your ass in a heap of trouble." Jonathan didn't get it why Edward was so insistent when he had so many other people but... at least it was flattering?

"Really? Oh no. How awful. My ass isn't at all used to trouble." Edward said it drily, looking out the window and just letting things go by. Gave him that short-lived fantasy that he was actually going somewhere. Actually leaving this place. "My family wouldn't want me hanging out with you, true. But that's nothing personal. Not against you, at least."

Honestly, Edward didn't know whether in this particular case it being Jonathan would make much of a difference. It was the boy-thing that was the issue. With what he knew of his mother's boyfriend by now, he assumed he'd rather have a step-son get murdered by the creepy neighbourhood kid than a queer one.

"Good to know it's not personal, makes it better, don't it?" Jonathan joked as he pulled off the main street and into the back streets, hoping to get off road and towards his own area. He lived further out than most people, their family had a lot of land and while a lot of it was useless, it was still impressive how much they had around them. It really helped their isolation. Jonathan quite liked that, honestly.

"If you change your mind, you should say. You can leave any time. I ain't asking you to be here but I wouldn't complain." A free test subject? Perfection. He needed more of those. "Just keep in mind that I warned you. Don't feel slighted afterwards like I didn't."

"Yeah, yeah." Edward moved his hand to indicate that Jonathan could move on from that, because he had no intention of leaving. This was the most interesting thing he had going on in his life right now. "Your family has an interesting history, you know? Your house must be amazing, though I imagine it's a bit in disarray by now."

He had been doing research. Of course. Hell, he had even done some more research on the crappy computer they had at the diner in the time that Jonathan needed to finish his food, which admittedly wasn't long. "There's so many stories and rumours about your family too, I'm sure you know. Must have had money, back in the day. They make up all those stories, but no one's asking the right questions. That's always the problem. People are so dumb."

"My great grandmother is quite the woman. Not popular, not even a little. Her kids neither or her grand kids. Guess there's just something about us, we never seem to win people over. Maybe it's a legacy thing." Jonathan was sure Edward knew something by now, that was why he was so intrigued. And he could probably figure from the direction where they were likely going. Only one farm was this direction, they were out of bounds in some ways - never really part of town.

"Great granny Keeny doesn't like to hold onto money. See, that's a sin. Having it, using it, making it. Then again, what isn't a sin? Even living is sin." It was hard to win with her in that respect. No one was worthy. It was hard to speculate on what money that bitter old bitch had but Jonathan had theories. "You enjoy prying into my life?"

"Yes." Edward felt that honesty might be best in this situation. Why bother lying? "I do. Your life is interesting. You are fascinating. I like to learn things and it's not as if this place has much else to teach me."

Other than what all was a sin, as it turned out. "I walked into church and didn't burst into flames, to I've learned that all of that shit can't be true. As you know." He didn't really see Jonathan as being a big believer. Now, someone raised to fear God, probably still hard to shake that off, but still. Jonathan was intelligent. He loved that.

"I worked it he wasn't true when he didn't strike me down for thinking impure things in church. Then doing them. I had to test." He was 13 and unable to control himself, riddled with a want to sin and angry at his family for his life - it was worth the gamble. And here he was, even now. Maybe he'd go to hell still but he wasn't so sure. Seemed unlikely there was a hell and if there was, it had a lot to compete with out here.

He pulled out into a dirt road and the car rattled as he gunned it up the steeper parts of the road. It was mostly uphill from here. "I'm not a sideshows freak so don't get too interested in me. I don't like to play for an audience. My life is my life, my business and it ain't yours."

And today he was going to teach Edward to stay away from him.

"And there's no way I could possibly be interested in you without you turning it into a negative? Oh, Jonny. Work on your self-esteem!" Edward chuckled and shook his head, trying to relax so the rattling would bother him less. "I'll be thinking impure things in church. I'll be thinking about you doing impure things. That will keep me occupied nicely. Might think about that alone in my room too."

"Me and negative go hand in hand." He didn't believe for a second that Edward did this for a good reason or because he was actually interested in him as a person. He was bored and he wanted quick amusement - he wanted to entertain himself with a mystery. "You really like to flirt with danger, don't you? You should seek therapy."

Rolling his eyes, Jonathan got onto a more stable part of the road and the rattling eased off. He gestured his side, tapping the window. "What do you think then?"

There it was, his granny's house. A gothic horror if ever there was one.

"Huh." What did he even say to that? Edward raised his eyebrows, then tilted his head, then smiled to himself. "It fits you." That was what he thought. "Very American Gothic. Southern Gothic. I like the aesthetic." At least this was definitely going all out. Damn. Creepy in every way. "Seems as if there should be a storm going on or something. Not that I'm complaining. Don't really care for storms."

"Oh yeah, gonna rain like hell tonight. Whole damn place is gonna leak." Jonathan laughed at the idea as he drove past the house and the fields around it, heading past the house he currently lived in. "It's a big property. We had a lot once, my grandfather wanted to basically just build his own fucking town away from everyone else. Of course, when the market crashed, he blew his brains out in that shed over there."

Jonathan gestured idly in the direction as he kept on driving. "Luckily his daughter married well, my dad has his own .... ways. His own career. He thinks beyond the country life." He was sure Edward knew most of this. He had researched them, after all. "We don't have people up here much. Most folks stay away."

"So I hear. Although you are so inviting." Edward looked at Jonathan from the side, even if he had to look around every now and then too. It all made sense. Seeing Jonathan here, it felt a lot like putting together a puzzle and of course that had him enthralled. Maybe he did like taking risks, there was that too. Of course he liked taking risks, else he'd never have ended up here in the first place. "Is this where you wanna stay, Jonathan? Godforsaken farm by yourself one day?"

"Here?" That was a good question, Jonathan didn't actually know. He didn't want to be here forever but the idea of finding a way out of here was also too difficult to even comprehend. To leave was so hard to fathom, it gave him pause. "It's home, I guess."

Maybe he'd be here forever. Maybe he'd die here. With the way his father got these days after everything in the past few months? He was pretty sure he'd never make it out alive. "You see that ahead? That's the family chapel." He changed the topic swiftly, not wanting to linger. "That's where we get off. You sure you fancy coming? I'd drop you off back at the entrance, if you want?"

"Think I'll take the risk." Edward looked at him, thoughtful. Of course, he was just about always thoughtful, but right now he actually let it show on his face. "You could be in Gotham, you know? Gotham is the place where the strange become extraordinary."

The place he would return to, sooner or later, one way or the other. He waited for Jonathan to stop the car, feeling how the atmosphere had changed. Tension, apprehension, that talk of danger and all the warnings... He'd have to be stupid to be unaware and he was not stupid. Chasing risks, however? Guilty as charged.

Leaning forward, he suddenly kissed Jonathan's cheek and let his lips linger for a moment. "Thanks for the right, Jonny."

That said he pulled away, undid his seatbelt, and got out of the car. Better to fake bravado before his own anxiety could kick in.

Jonathan paused in the car for a few moments, just stunned and unsure, his heart was racing and he felt a swell inside of him that he could do nothing with. He didn't know what he felt at being kissed on the cheek like that. It felt like needles and warmth. He hated when idiots were right but he still had hoped they weren't. It wasn't men. Just Edward. Edward was the devil, sent to tempt him.

Getting out of the car, he pocketed his keys and walked along, wondering what the fuck Edward was doing? Why did he want to do this so badly?

"You're fucking insane." Just saying. "I'm angry over your lack of survival instincts."

"I've survived with them so far, so who knows? Maybe I'm just really lucky." A possibility, honestly. But he had grown up in a city where the air was toxic and the water poisonous, so perhaps a certain readiness to accept risk came with the territory.

He walked next to Jonathan, once more seeming amused more than anything when he watched him from the side. "Do I really make you angry, Jonny? I kind of like that. I like the idea of getting to you."

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