Senseless

Second Try

Where's Adam? 

Jake held the door as Tommy wheeled himself in. He was back in a wheelchair, as he'd mentioned, but he did look better than the last time Jade had seen him. He'd had to have climbed the stairs on his own while Jake brought up his chair, too, so he wasn't too bad off. He ended up stopping next to where Jade stood. When he was offered Tommy' s hand, Jade took it with a nod. 

"Thanks for coming, Jade." 

"Of course." He replied as his eyes wandered, on their own accord, to Jake. 

The moment the younger man was within reach, Jade's fingers itched to touch him. He knew that he was being ridiculous by practically chasing the poor guy after causing such shit with his rules, yet he couldn't help himself. He'd never been addicted to something in his entire life, except maybe coffee on extremely busy weeks, but he couldn't seem to get Jake out of his head. 

"Good evening, Jade." Jake said as he came to a stop beside him. 

He had a cautious smile on his face and his attention was mainly focused on Jana, who had become just-barely more tense with his brother's approach. Two foldout chairs had been placed a few feet away from where Jana sat, so Jade decided to direct Jake to take a seat, then took the one beside him after tugging on the shirt he'd been allowed to use. 

Domino dropped down beside Jana, his hand immediately going to the man's leg and squeezing. Jade knew that it was a comfort gesture, as he'd used it several times on some of his subs that enjoyed a little pain. He could tell, however, that Jana had no technical enjoyment in it, but it clearly did do something for him. His body slowly relaxed and his breathing evened out after a silent minute. 

"So, Jana, how have you been?" Jake said with a small smile. 

His brother watched him like a wolf might watch it's next kill. The air was tense, but at the same time, Jake remained calm and seemed to be doing his best to defuse anything before it could even start. He was clearly choosing his words carefully. Taking his time to think over what to say, and how he needed to say it. 

Smart kid. 

Jade was proud of him, too. Jake knew that he was in a situation where what he said, or didn't say, could cause further stress between him and his brother. They all waited patiently for Jana to respond. From what Jade could tell by his expression, the man was having some sort of internal struggle with what he wanted to say.   

When he did finally decide on a response, it was to simply lift his head a fraction, purse his lips, and shrug as he sank back into he sofa a little bit. 

He's reacting like a confused child. 

It was hard to believe that a grown man didn't know how to make basic conversation, but Jade couldn't hold it against him. From what he'd been told, Jana had had a pretty terrible start in life, and prison hadn't made things any easier. 

He was just about to try and step into the conversation, though he'd hoped that it would just be between Jake and Jana, when Jana's dog, Terra, suddenly appeared with a tennis ball in her mouth. She walked right up to him, tail wagging with excitement. Jana tried to refocus after nudging her away, but the dog was quite persistent and didn't take no for an answer. 

Not wanting the meeting to be a waste, Jade tried calling the dog to him quietly, intent on throwing the ball for her a few times while Jana and Jake spoke, but again, the dog didn't care. It didn't even act like it had heard him at all. 

Domino was watching the dog, but he didn't try to shoo it away or take the ball. Jade didn't want Jana to get frustrated and the whole situation get ruined before it started, but he also didn't want to reach toward the man to try and move the dog, either.