[CLOSED]

[codicies]

Who: Dylan codicies, Sleeper solo_sleeper, Younger Jason robintohood, Dana qualityfriend, Hunter badbutsadboy, Nico [Bad username or unknown identity: <b]What: Things happening at Dylan's apartment
When: Early June I'M LATE HA HA HA
Where: Prospero Luxury Apartments

---


01. Jason Moving in - Closed to Dylan, Jason, and Sleeper

Dylan emptied out the unoccupied bedrooms.

He'd held out for months. Surely Eddie and Venom would come back someday. Surely Diana couldn't stay away for long. But when Ripley finally disappeared...

Well.

Nothing was thrown out. He couldn't do that. He couldn't. He'd contacted the trustee in charge of his money and arranged for a storage facility. Someday he'd go there and take a more thorough look through their things, try to get it organized.

Someday.

Today, Jason is moving in. Dylan needs a guardian, and like hell he's letting some government bigwig choose one for him. Last thing he needs is some kind of Count Olaf type trying to get their hands on his inheritance. He trusts Jason — but more importantly, Sleeper trusts Jason, which spoke volumes.

He's helping Jason get settled into the penthouse, but pauses when he passes by the closed door of Eddie and Venom's old room. He stops and stares at it, wondering if maybe this time, this time the door might burst open and Eddie might come out to greet him with a hug.

--

02. Dana coming to Stay - Closed to Dylan, Sleeper, Jason, and Dana

Dana's brainwashing hadn't been her fault, and it certainly hadn't been Dylan's fault. He knew rationally that he shouldered none of the blame.

But he should have known. He should have seen something. Dylan had literally been inside her head as it was happening and he couldn't see it. Nevermind that he'd been stretched so thin at the time, there was no way he could have focused on a single person for an extended period of time. Never mind that he had literally no baseline for what Dana's normal brain should feel like, and thus couldn't possibly have known anything was different than normal.

After Dana comes to stay with them, Dylan is determined to be completely normal about this.

Coming to check on her every 15 minutes to ask if she's OK is completely normal, right?


--

03. Movie Night - Open to Dylan's friends & housemates

The lights are dim, and the whole apartment smells like popcorn. The big-screen TV in the living room is playing Lilo and Stitch, and he's surrounded by people he cares about.

One in particular.

Dylan thinks he's being subtle. He's sitting in the middle of the couch when the film starts, with Hunter to his left. Slowly, Dylan starts leaning into Hunter, eventually easing his head down to rest on his shoulder.

He keeps his eyes on the movie, but his thoughts are lost in the warm, excited churning in his stomach at being so close.

Comments

1

[robintohood]

Jason never really expected to live with anyone again. Between being a crime lord and his own vigilantism style, being alone worked best for him. Sure, he's been interreacting and working with siblings from different alternative universes for over a year now but actually living with someone is different. He had been fine living alone and alternating between safehouses.

But after Ripley left, it made better sense to move in with the Brocks. Better a friend than some stranger who might have different priorities for Dylan. Plus, being bonded with Sleeper has made him further closer to the siblings. It feels right he would take this next step with them.

Jason's carrying a box of his books towards his new bedroom when he sees Dylan staring at another door. He knows it used to be Eddie and Venom's and suspects why the teenager is looking.

Putting down the box, Jason then walks over to Dylan. He purposely makes his steps heard so to not surprise him as well.

"Dylan?" He asks.

[codicies]

Dylan hears the approaching footsteps, but they only barely register enough for him not to be startled. He turns to Jason, and forces a smile.

"Hey. You settling in okay?"

[robintohood]

Jason can see Dylan trying to put up a front. He knows he's been trying to do that for months now. Taking care of the alien parasites certainly didn't help matters.

"Yeah, everything's good. Been a while since I've lived in anything bigger than a shoebox," he replies. "Thanks again for letting me stay. I'm glad we could do this."

Jason then looks back at door to Eddie and Venom's old bedroom.

"I know things have been tough."

[codicies]

"Me, too. I'm glad you and Sleeper can be closer together."

He follows Jason's gaze, his smile faltering a bit. "It's... it's not so bad," he says, trying to convince himself more than Jason. "I got to have them for a few months. That was... that was pretty nice."

[robintohood]

"I know," Jason calmly says. "It's okay to still miss them. I know how close you all are."

Using the past tense doesn't... quite feel right and there's always the chance they could return.

[codicies]

"Yeah. I know." Dylan looks wistful for a moment... but then decides to change the subject. He doesn't want to dwell on this anymore.

He looks to the box full of, presumably, books. "So, whatcha got there? And how many more crates of them are you bringing up?"

[robintohood]

"It's just my library," Jason replies as he picks back up the box. "I only got a couple of more crates to bring up. Over the years, I've had to learn not to have too much stuff. Pizza once we're done?"

Jason wants their first night together to be an easy low-key affair.

[codicies]

"Pizza sounds great," Dylan says with a grin. "Though this would be a terrible time to find out you're into weird pizza toppings, like bananas or something. I'd have to kick you out."

[robintohood]

Jason laughs.

"You'd hear it from Sleeper before hearing it from me. Don't worry. I'm not a fan of fruit on my slices," he says.

[codicies]

"Okay, I guess you'll make an acceptable guardian, then." He starts leading the way to Jason's room. "At least you won't be poisoning me. That's the one qualification."

[robintohood]

"Glad to have cleared your high standards then," Jason smirks as he follows Dylan with his box. "Though you know this also means I'm siding with Sleeper in making sure you do your homework when school resumes."

[codicies]

"Oh, come on!" The whining is only a little facetious. "Aren't you supposed to be like, some kind of cool rebel? Don't make me part of the System!"

[robintohood]

"Yeah but I gotta pretend to be a responsible adult," Jason retorts in amusement. "Besides, some subjects are universal across the multiverse, like math."

[codicies]

"Uuughhh." Dylan groans as he steps into Jason's room. "You're lucky Sleeper likes you."

[robintohood]

Most of Jason's possessions in the room are still in boxes. He plans to unpack and reorganize everything later in the week. Today's just about getting everything into the penthouse first.

"Of course I am. Cats have impeccable tastes," he smirks, mimicking a bit of Sleeper's confident tone.

[qualityfriend]

Dana's been cooped up alone enough that Dylan's constant check-ins are still a relief rather than an annoyance. So she greets him with a grateful smile.

"Still here, still feeling normal. No signs of blackouts or missing time."

[codicies]

"Good." He offers a weak smile. "I'm... sorry I didn't notice what was going on. I should have seen what was happening."

[qualityfriend]

She purses her lips and shakes her head. "No, it wasn't your fault. You had so much going on, so many other people in your head... Of course you wouldn't have noticed. I didn't even notice until Jason found me right after an... event."