33 Apocalypse Ave., Thursday Morning

[not_in_the_book]

Waking up early, Ronan slipped out of bed -- being careful not to wake the other occupants -- slipped on some pyjama pants and a t-shirt, and opened and closed the door as quietly as possible as he left the room.

Coffee first, he thought, and then he might as well get started on breakfast.

[For the housemates! Or anyone else who wants to call/drop by/whatever.]

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

It was a thing. That followed logically and did not involve discussing the particulars of what anyone did in bed.

It could have been much, much worse.

"Morning," Jack seconded, a bit dryly. "Do you have plans for the day?"

[not_a_whiner]

"Take a run around the island, finish up some reports," Kaidan said with an idle shrug.

He didn't voice his relief that they weren't going to talk about that, but it was kind of visible in his stance. "Nothing really exciting. How about you?"

[bitten_notshy]

"About the same," Jack said. "Eric's got me booking some travel, and I need to call the college and see if they're letting me back in. But besides that ... pretty lazy kind of day."

[not_a_whiner]

"You going back to college next month?" Kaidan asked him with actual interest in his voice. "What are you majoring in anyway?"

[bitten_notshy]

"I will if all the damned paperwork goes through," Jack sighed.

International, interdimensional transfers were never exactly going to run smoothly, especially when you factored in certain ... irregularities in the student's identification. But Jack's was almost there. Mostly.

"And history, actually. But only because I want to be a lawyer and I'm told that's a common path to law school. And I like it." He raised his eyebrows. "Did you go?"

[not_a_whiner]

"No," Kaidan admitted. He took a sip of his coffee. "I attended a biotics training program called BAaT when I was a teenager. It was... heavy. Thought I'd do some soul-searching afterwards, then I signed on with the Alliance and I never looked back."

The tech nerd in him sometimes kind of regretted that. But only a little.

"Still, history. That ought to give you a good foundation for whatever comes next."

[bitten_notshy]

"It does," Jack nodded. "And it's good to hear the stories from someone with less of a bias than my guardian."

He sipped his own coffee. "Doesn't sound like you did too badly without it, though."

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan took another sip. "It just didn't feel like it was much of an option for me," he admitted. "I was interested, but... I don't know."

He put his cup back down. "I took a lot of extra courses while I was in training for the Alliance," he said. "There's something to be said for... laying some foundations for your mind as well as your body."

[bitten_notshy]

"What did you like?" Jack asked, genuinely interested. "I'm good at languages, history and politics. Okay with literature. Not much use at science or maths at all, past the basic concepts."

[not_a_whiner]

"I'm... good at science and mathematics," Kaidan admitted, chuckling briefly. "I like knowing how things function-- and how to make them work to our benefit."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack smiled back. "It's important work," he said. "I'm just starting from too far behind."

He took a thoughtful sip of coffee. "I can make my phone work as an alarm clock. That's as advanced as I am, I'm afraid."

[not_a_whiner]

"Hey, that's a good step in the right direction," Kaidan said. Didn't say for someone from your time period because that felt patronizing. "When it comes right down to it, programming's pretty much about the same principles anyway. You put a value in and you ask the machine to turn it into something else."

[bitten_notshy]

"Like translation but in front of a machine," Jack nodded, after a pause. "The issue is knowing which value to use, and how to put it in, and what you want to turn it into."

But otherwise, he had it down pat.

[not_a_whiner]

"Basically," Kaidan agreed. "But that's what we've got schools for, you know?"