The Ceiling Mocks Me

Log Info

Title: The Ceiling Mocks Me
Emitter: None
Characters: Adrian, Sunday
NPCs: None
Place: Adrian's Room - Rider Hall
Time: Afternoon; July 20, 2010
Summary: Adrian is mad about something, but when his twin's girlfriend Sunday enters his room to find out what that is… things go from frustrating to embarrassing.

It's late afternoon. Classes are finally over and Tyche and Adrian both returned to Rider Hall. Neither one speaking to each other. Adrian wasn't even looking at the girl when he came in. The dark-haired boy goes straight towards his room and SLAMS the door loud enough to rattle the walls. About two seconds later VERY LOUD rock music blares from within. Oooo-kay. Someone is not having a good day?

Sunday Knight is not one to meddle in other peoples business. Especially not when that business is so clearly personal, and raw, and probably something all parties involved want to keep quiet.. but.. well… She was in the kitchen when Adrian stormed in and back out, cleaning up from a sandwich she just ate, and everything stops as she watches him grump his way to his room. … She should just give him his space. She knows this! But.. but… Adrian is a friend, and not only that but a friend who has nearly died several times recently, and a friend who is her boyfriends brother, and she just.. feels particular protective of him! So she waits until Tyche has gone out of sight, cleans up what remains of her mess, then walks up to Adrian's door to knock.. Except there is very loud music. .. Damnit. She doesn't want Tyche to hear her yelling for him! "… Adrian..?" Knock-knock! "Adrian??" And if there is no answer, well.. she just tries to knob, only to peek and wave a hand a little.

There isn't an answer, so peaking in is what it takes to venture into Adrian's realm. His backpack is just flung next to the door with the contents spilling out onto the floor. There's a notebook on the top of the stack of discarded books that has a page filled with brain storming. Names are written around a doodle of a mask, some with lines struck through them, others circled, some with notes that say stupid, taken, just no, etc. Adrian usually puts his backpack in a certain spot, neat freak that he is. And right by the door like that is not it. Music blasts from the computer on his desk through the speakers.

The room's occupant is laying up on his lofted bed, tossing a basketball up into the air over his chest. Each time he tosses it, the sphere gets closer to hitting the ceiling. He glances over at the door as it is cracked open and sighs. The basketball is caught again. Adj sits up and swings his legs over the side of the bed. "Sorry, Sunny… if the music is too loud, I can turn it down."

When acknowledged and not getting a basketball thrown at her, Sunday smiles up at Adrian and shakes her head, entering his room and leaving a hand on the outer knob. Consequently leaving the door open, for the moment. Her head shakes before she half shouts up to him over the music, "No, that's not it, I-.." Yeah.. this is not gonna work. So Sunday leaves the doorway just to turn the speakers on his computer down a bit. Enough to talk without shouting. "I um.. I saw you come in." And Tyche, but she won't say that. "Is everything okay?"

Adrian drops off the bed, basketball in hand, and his feet slap onto the floor. Knees bent, he straightens and drops the ball onto the floor, kicking it with his foot across the room towards his open closet door. "Everything is fine," he says in a tone that indicates it is anything but. He shakes his head and goes to his mini-fridge, "You want something to drink?" Adrian pulls out a bottled water for himself and then, bursts out with, "She was crying! What the hell does she have to cry about?" The top of the bottled water is opened, and tosses aside, bottle tipped back. He guzzles it down without taking a breath, then lowers it, wiping his mouth with his arm. "What did she want anyway? Me to be all 'Oh my gosh Tyche! Thank you so much for trying to rescue me and getting shot and worrying and you're my hero! What would I have ever done without you!?' And then she had to bring up the whole thing with Ian and me blacking out on our date like that was an excuse to make the fact that she mind controlled me okay!" He looks down at the empty water bottle, realizing that he's got it crushed in his hand.

Sunday's eyes track Adrian as he moves, though she remains by his desk, hooking her thumbs into the pockets of her shorts. The insistance that he's fine is not going to be argued, and when he offers a drink those unrealistically bright pink lips smile while Sunday nods. She'll take any bottle offered and then, well.. Adrian unleashes! Crying? .. Ahh. Adrian and Tyche have broken up. .. Well, as broken up as two people can be who she's fairly sure were never actually an official couple. The blonde listens without looking disapproving or shocked as she opens her own bottle and takes a few sips. While she IS listening, and trying to take it all in without judgement, Sunday can't help but note to herself how odd it is to watch Linus' face spout off about some other girl, so animated and aggrivated. .. But kind of not Linus' face. Some of the lines are different… Wait, what did he say? "Mind controlled you?!" Blue eyes go wide. ".. Tyche mind controlled you?!" CLEARLY, Sunday is on Adrian's side about this one. She sounds quite horrified. "I did notice she was really.. heavy-handed on the mind-talk thing," the memory makes Sunday cringe involuntarily, "But she actually controlled you? Jeez.. What the hell is her problem?"

Adrian throws the empty water bottle in the trashcan and then leans back against his bedframe, arms folded over his chest. "She did tell me about it after, and acted like I should be grateful that she did it," the boy says, "I know when my sugar gets low I'm not too keen on following directions. I gave Steph a black eye once when she was watching me and Linus. I don't really remember it, but that night it was just blank like, completely blank. Not the same at all, then I find out she's mind controlled me. And okay, forgiven, but then she has to keep poking around in my head and trying to start up mental conversations and… how can you even begin to trust someone like that?!"

He pushes off from the bed and goes over to his door shutting it and then starts pacing. "It's infuriating! I mean, yeah, thanks to all of you for coming to get me and Mari out of there, but I'm not going to start hero worshipping any of you over it. It's not like I asked you guys to come save me!"

Sunday doesn't look so convinced of how great mind control is supposed to be, no matter the motivations behind it. ".. I can see why she decided to do it, but.. you said Ian was there? So.. I don't know." She frowns. "I'm not.. really.." Those blue eyes search the air between them as if the answer to the best way to say whatever it is she wants to get out will be found there. "I don't like the idea of someone in my head. It's personal, you know? I mean, we can't control anything, keep anything private or just the way we want it.. except our thoughts. At least, that's how it's supposed to be." Biting her lower lip, it's clear Sunday can't find any defense for what Tyche did, but at the same time doesn't want to start a bash session. She's just going to listen, and agree, and let Adrian vent as he needs to. She watches him move to the door and pace around the room, sipping her water as she does. Her frown only deepens at the last words he says. "You don't have to ask, Adrian. It's not a choice. We came to get you because.. I mean.. who wouldn't?? You're our friend. Linus' brother. You're important to all of us. But nobody expects - should expect - some kind of medal for it. And it's not right of her to hold it over your head. It wouldn't be right of anyone." So, yes. On his side. Just trying to be diplomatic about it.

Adrian: not being diplomatic about anything. "Exactly! I'd do the same for you, for Linus, for anyone! I wouldn't expect any thanks for it! And she's all: Oh, boo-hoo, next time something happens to you I won't care! I won't have Antigone drive me all over Maryland looking for you! Ugh!" He's still pacing, but with each step, he's rising just a little bit off the floor. He throws his hands in the air, flustered, but not noticing that he's now about three inches off the ground and walking on the air. "I think she tried to read Mr. Turner's mind too. She said she didn't, but she was all 'His best friend is a villain' and how else do you find something like that out about teachers? It's not right. Maybe I can learn how to have some kind of mind shield. That would actually be something useful that I could do with my powers. But Linus would probably figure that out first too!" He's venting. Sunday is a sounding board. Lucky her. He paces back again, still walking on air and still drifting just a liiittle bit higher off the ground. "Not that I'm ungrateful, because as I understand what happened if he hadn't I'd have died and then he'd have gotten blown up when the building exploded, but still… did he have to rub it in my face?"

Okay, there is one bit in there Sunday can't help but smirk at. "Antigone drove her all over Maryland? Considering we found you on our own, that seems like it was a monumental waste of time." And then.. oh. He's levitating again! Sunday blinks, but says nothing about it, watching him get a little farther off the ground as his agitation grows. .. Neat trick, really! All she tends to do when pissy is change the temperature of the room. ".. Mister Turner? … Why?" She thinks back, trying to figure some reason to have invaded the man's mind.. "His best friend? … Just because a person is friends with someone, doesn't mean.." A pause. ".. I wonder if that has anything to do with why Mister Turner is gone now?" Her head shakes. "Not important." Not now, anyway. And then he goes on to Linus. Sunday's lips draw into a line, though that line is lightly curled upward in amusement. "He only does it to mess with you. Linus has spent his whole life in your shadow, Adrian. He's finally coming out into the sun, and.. well.." She shrugs. "I kinda get the impression this is what brothers do. I dunno, don't have any siblings." But, she's not going to try too hard to justify this rivalry the boys have, or Linus' role in it. Adrian doesn't want that. "It's really amazing how quickly you picked this stuff up, you know. The flying, and heck, I wouldn't be surprised if there is more to it than even that. .. Um. but.." She grins softly. "You're kinda in the air, you know. Might want to try to get a handle on that."

"I don't know, maybe. His wife's been subbing the class. She said it was a family emergency," Adrian says. Not interested in meddling in his teacher's lives. He just shakes his head at her comments about Linus, continuing to pace— and rise. That, is, until she points out to him what he's doing. "I'm what…?" Adrian asks. It's only then that he realizes that his perspective on the room has changed and rather than just looking down on Sunday from the normal height difference between them, he's really looking down on her. Surprise overshadows the anger and irritation on his face. "I'm… oh… oh, hah, wow." Rather than crashing to the ground like he has every other time that he's realized that he's 'flying', this time the opposite effect happens and Adrian drifts higher. He's soon enough got his back against the ceiling. "Crap…"

Sunday's eyes just get a little wider the higher he drifts upward, upward.. and then hits the ceiling. For a moment she just stares.. and then her lips begin to twitch up into a grin. The girl, clearly bemused, walks over to where Adrian is until she's underneath the poor boy and looking up. "Hi. Soo… Should I just grab a foot and pull, or do you wanna chill up there for awhile and keep talking?" Yes. She's clearly enjoying this. A lot. HEY! It's pay back for him FLYING first! Of course, it'd be helpful if she could just.. drift. Instead of rocket.

"Oh, hah hah…" Adrian says sarcastically, turning around to try to push himself off the ceiling. It's not working. He looks like he's trying to do push-ups up there. He turns his head to look down at Sunday. Of course he has to act like he's doing this on purpose. He wouldn't be Adrian otherwise. So, since it's clear to him that for the moment gravity does not apply he flips back over so that his back rests against his ceiling. His arms are crossed over his chest and he puts on a smile. "Nope. I'm good." Of course he is! "So, um… I was thinking about codenames earlier. Brainstorming." Yes, he's going to carry on a conversation from his ceiling.

At least he wasn't outside.

Yes, this could have been much worse, instead of just.. REALLY amusing. So Sunday remains there under the boy attached to his ceiling, arms crossed and grinning up at him with barely contained amusement. To her credit, at least, she does not laugh. "A codename?" Her head tilts slightly, which is a little difficult, looking straight up and all. "You nullify things. Clearly, you're Null. I mean really, what else makes sense?" A pause, and then she adds, "Also, it takes more than one brain to storm. Just so you know."

"Null? That's so… boring," Adrian says. He bends one knee, the foot planted on the ceiling. He's trying so hard to look cool, but Sunday's amusement at his predicament is damaging his attempts. "Not that any of my ideas are much better." He pauses and then growls in annoyance. "Okay, you don't have to look so smug about it…" he stretches a hand down, "A little help here?"

"And 'Thermal' is so incredibly exciting?" Sunday puts her hands on her hips, wondering just how long he's going to let this go as he struggles to get down while not looking like a doofus about it. Smug? Her grin only gets wider. "C'mon Adrian, it's not like I'm going to run out and tell every girl in town about how you got stuck to the ceiling. You don't have to try so hard to not look foolish. Not with me anyway." And there, that grin of amusement becomes more of a warm, friendly kind of smile. See? She's not really mocking you! Just.. amused at the situation. He stretches out that hand, and, well.. what can she do? Not take it? Leave him stranded up there? A brief glance is tossed down to her outfit - short-shorts and a baby-doll t-shirt - and she has to wonder if she's about to find out just how appropriate it is for the weather. In preparation, the room fills with cooler air. Prepped and ready to potentially lose her precious immunity again, Sunday reaches up to take Adrian's hand and give him a good tug down. Where. Um. Where she is. Yeah. Smart. SOOOooOOO worried about the temperature.

"It at least has two syllables and has a catchy ring to it," Adrian says, trying to stretch down so that he can grasp Sunday's hand. This is horribly embarrassing. His fingers link through Sunday's and the girl gives him a good tug. Two things happen: first Sunday feels that sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that precedes the loss of her powers when Adrian's own neohuman ability turns them off; and second, a teenage boy is now falling on top of her and planting her to his bedroom floor. Gravity has Adrian in its grips again since the boy is no longer floating, but poor Sunday. And for that matter, an awkward position for the two of them. Adrian blinks, pushing up with his arms as his cheeks turn red and he looks down at the blonde. "Um… thanks…" Somewhere his brain is telling him he should get off of her, but the synapses haven't quite made the connection just yet to get him to move.

Right now, Sunday is feeling very confused, and slightly dazed from a rather sudden bump to the back of her head and the blush creeping up on her own cheeks. But right now is not where this moment started, so let's back up a little! There was a definitely amused grin up at the ceiling-stuck boy as he bemoans his lack of lengthy word-choices, and when their hands touch and Sunday's world gets a little more… temperature-y, she notes it but is not nearly as weirded out as she as the first time it happened. She was PREPARED this time! What she was not prepared for, however, was a falling Adrian. "Eek!" Yes, she actually Eek's. She's a big freakin' girl. Sunday has no time to step out of the way, and barely enough time to keep her head from being smacked into his before she's being suddenly and violently pushed to the floor. Thank goodness it's carpet, or she might be a little worse than dazed! Which brings us back to the now, with Sunday blinking away the stars in her vision even as she stares up at the boy on top of her. Her freckles, normally fairly obvious across her nose and the front of her cheeks, blend in a little better to the shade of red she turns. She should shove him away or scramble or something.. and while a few of those connections are made, the young blonde also thinks she doesn't want to make this any more awkward than it already is. If they laugh about it, it'll make it better! It'll make it not.. weird. And then he'll stop laying on top of her. ……. Yeah. "Uh, no problem." Laugh! Must joke! Must think of.. oh! "Fulfilling your secret desire to be on to-..p… of…." It started off funny! She was even sorta smiling. And then the smile got weird, about the time she realized this joke was not going to help anything and should be killed, horribly. It took a second for her mouth to get the memo. "…me?"

Adrian on top of his brother's girlfriend. On the floor. In a compromising position. The door is shut. Music is on. It's a very good thing that no one is walking in. Get off her you idiot! Adrian moistens his lips and Sunday's words only make his face get even hotter. The laughter that comes out of his mouth is forced through suddenly awkward tension. "That was my plan all along," Adrian says, attempting to play it cool for the both of them. Still, it is cute the way Sunday's cheeks are turning all red and—NO. Now that the message has reached its destination, Adrian is quick to roll off of Sunday and sit on his floor. He rakes his hands through his hair, clears his throat, and without quite meeting Sunday's eyes asks, "…you okay?"

OKay, there was that look again. Kind of like the one he had when he met her and Linus at the pool. And.. maybe one or two other times. And this time it's definitely not deniable as just a passing Oh There's Sunday kind of look. It's a There's A Cute Girl look. Sunday's blue eyes get subtly wider when Adrian wets his lips, and the question hits her like a lightening bolt to the brain: Is he going to try to kiss her? She hasn't got time to ramp up an escape plan, though, because a moment later he's being all It's Cool like Adrian does, and she meets his awkward laughter with a bit of her own.. only to be looked at again. Okay, this has to be over! Sunday was just in the process of beginning to start to figure out how to best get out from under him when Adrian takes care of it himself. Laying there for a moment, staring up at the ceiling, Sunday tries to cram understanding of what has just happened - if anything has happened - into her brain in the span of time it takes him to ask how she is. "Um," is her only reply at first. She bites her lower lip, glances off to the side (the one he's not on) and only after does she finally plant hands on the ground and push herself up to sitting. Though her head tilts in his direction, she too doesn't yet make eye contact. And there's that awkward smile again. "Yeah. .. You?"

"Yep. Not on my ceiling any more," Adrian scratches his hands through his hair again. He's trying to process what just happened here himself. "So, um… I… uh… I've got homework I should probably get started on." Right. He closes his eyes and mentally kicks himself. Do not make this more weird than it already is! When he opens them again he flashes Sunday a lopsided smile. The boy pushes up to his feet, then offers a hand down to help Sunday. Now that he's made the decision to do so, he's acting as if nothing just happened. Really. Nothing did happen. Something could have happened. But nothing did. Right? Right! "Thanks for prying me down and if you ever tell anyone…" that's more like it. Back to normal! Even if it doesn't have quite the right nuances for a proper Mr. Cool threat.

It doesn't matter if all the subtleties are in place - Sunday is willing to play along! More than willing! "Always an improvement." Not being on the ceiling, that is. The moment she says it, it strikes her as a very odd thing to have said ('Right, Sunny, because people are always stuck on ceilings! Idiot.') and a bit of sourness creeps into her expression. His smile is returned, equally out of place looking, as the pair of them make fleeting eye-contact before Adrian is on his feet. There is a definite appreciation in her eyes upon seeing he'd just like to play pretend, and the offered hand is taken so the girl can be pulled up on to her feet. The grin she offers is more genuine, though not quite back to 100% normal. "Lips are sealed, promise. Our secret." That he was on the ceiling. That he was back off the ceiling. All of it! Nobody needs to know, because none of it ever happened. "Good luck with your homework." She glances down at their hands, still together, and carefully pulls her own away before she backs up towards his door. "See ya, um… later!" Yes, later! Not now. Now she's going to about-face (which she does) and open his door (yep, did that) and very casually make her exit (maybe just a tiny bit quicker than 'casual').

Adrian stands there for a second or two as Sunday makes her retreat. He's giving her time to get down the hallway and back to her room! Then, he rather quickly goes over to his door and shuts it again, lock clicking into place, and then he leans against it. His head falls back to thump against the door and he looks up at the ceiling that he was so recently plastered to. "…you're mocking me up there, aren't you?"

Mocking of supreme beings, ceilings, or otherwise… Adrian has homework to do. It will keep his mind off of the complexities and frustrations of girls. At least for a little while.

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