red handed [o]

Bright, neon yellow lines spelled out ‘3:43 AM’ on the watch screen on his right wrist. On his other wrist, similar, albeit green lines, spelled out the same time. He didn't remember when he exactly he had started wearing two watches, but he guessed it must've been a well-thought-out decision when it had been made. No time for a walk down memory lane, anyway. Jessé let his backpack fall from his shoulders and swung it over the Academy fence, heard the thud it landed with and cursed himself for the thousand time in the past hour.

Soon after the backpack followed the teenager himself, lanky frame scrambling over the wall. The campus was dark and quiet when he carefully perched himself on top of the divide, sleeping unknowingly. Surprisingly human. He didn't understand how they could sleep (maybe it had something to do with the fact that he had never slept in his life) - not when there was so much to see and do. And when there was so much smuggling of prohibited items to stop. Or to commit. Jessé landed besides the backpack in the snow, tumbling a couple of feet before stopping with his back against the earth and his face to the stars. If it hadn't been so cold, he would have lingered.

But something caught his eye, sneaking in the corner of his vision and leaving him unsure of whether what he had seen was real or not. And it also looked human-shaped. Something-shaped. Not-something-that-should-be-out-right-now-shaped. And whereas the spot he has selected to jump the fence from was good at keeping him away from danger, it didn't do much for when the danger came to him. The student flailed in the snow and managed to wrap both arms around the backpack, holding it tightly against his chest.

“Right, I know this looks slightly shady but you've probably seen worse.” he spoke defensively.

Sleepless nights were the worst. Since his power had come in, they had been getting more and more frequent. Of course, tonight was one of those nights. But instead of lying in his bed all night, Quill had figured taking a walk would hopefully make him more tired. So far, that hadn't been the case. As he strolled, he found himself in the courtyard, looking around at the snow that glistened and blanketed the garden and fountains. It was certainly a calming scene. That was, until a dark shape next to the fence fell and caught his eye.

At first, Quill couldn't make out what it was coming over the fence. A small, sharp gasp passed his lips as he pulled his hands out of the pockets of his hoodie, trying to discern the weird shape that climbed up, paused, then climbed down over. As he watched, he tried figuring out what he should do. Should he run? Should he fight? Ultimately, he ended up frozen in place, staring at the stranger as he scrambled to pick up his backpack, only moving when Quill heard this new kid's voice.

"Damn, dude. It's a lot more than 'slightly shady,'" Quill replied, still very wary about this guy. "What are you doing?"

A shudder passed through his entire body, a combination of the cold clinging to his clothes and soaking through the fabric, and the shock of hearing the sound of another voice. Albeit young, which meant he hadn't been caught by a teacher yet. This already but him at a slight advantage, and an advantage was what he would need when he was currently rolling in the snow holding his suspicious yellow package and trying to look nonchalant. With one hand still wrapped around the backpack, he pushed himself up with the other, until he was again sitting in the snow, brushing ginger hair from his face.

"Keep your voice down!" the Autumn hissed urgently, before getting a grip on himself. "Absolutely nothing to worry about, okay? And I mean it. This right here-" Jessé interrupted his speech to wave the bag in the air, then seemed to think better about it, and stopped shaking it frantically, "This is full of stuff you don't even want to worry about." he tried to sound reassuring, although his reassurance sound more like an ominous warning. "We could just keep this between us, a'ight?"

Immediately, Quill flinched and took a quick look around at the autumn's demand to speak softer as if both of them were about to get caught despite Quill not even being part of it. It was then only for a moment that he felt relief that no one else was around before it donned on him. He was alone with this guy trying to sneak stuff onto campus. His heart fluttered from the stress that suddenly weighed on his chest as now he had a choice to make. Let this guy go or try to keep him from doing...  well, whatever it was he was going to do.

However, Quill still heard him out as he tried to make a decision. The only issue was hearing about this stuff he didnt need to worry about. The question about keeping it between them only baffled the young boy more before he ultimately looked at Jessé with a quizzical look.

"Keep it between us?" He asked with disbelief as his eyes shifted back to the bag for a second. "Is that stuff... illegal?"

Ah, so he was beginning to get it. Well, at least now they were on the same page, and at least now he was being more careful. Not that it suited Jessé entirely, the way that the kid seemed to instantly become much more guarded and beware of him. He wasn't particularly intimidating, and part of him felt deeply wounded. The other part of him found that it was perfectly rational to be careful around himself, but it was a part he didn't listen to most of the time.

"Not... everything. You wouldn't believe it, one of those lazy, rich assholes sent me to buy him groceries. I wasn't about to do it in daylight - humiliation, that's what that'd be." the teenager deflected the question, holding the bag closer and trying to shield it from the other's eyes without making it too obvious. Sure, some of the things in there weren't exactly... allowed, and some of those things were plain weird, but Jessé wasn't the judgemental kind.

"Look, if you could just let me, how do I put it? Do my thing? Yeah, that's it, if you would just let me do my thing, I would really appreciate it, pal."

This guy was getting more and more confusing. Rich guy and groceries? Illegal things... Finally, the young boy relaxed, crossing his arms in front of him and raising his eyebrows. "I dont know. If you got illegal things in that bag..." he tossed the idea around of actually maybe going to administration about it but he couldn't shake his curiosity in what this guy was trying to do. "Take me with you," Quill exclaimed, getting a little excited about the idea of an adventure.

“Take you with-”

That took him aback, as he spluttered, visibly outraged by the idea. Just your regular, thrill-seeking kid who loses track of his morals the second adventures comes knocking on his door (well actually, he simply stumbled upon adventure and was currently holding it up from a more important task)? For a moment, Jessé considered the resemblance between the two of them, offending himself in the process.

But what was he supposed to do? Say no, and have this pissed off kid that knows exactly what he does, and could tell any higher-up in an instant? No, he learned from his mistakes. “Fine. But if someone notices you, don't expect me to stick around, ‘kay? You know, you're the one willingly getting yourself into ‘shady business’ on purpose.” the Autumn agreed reluctantly, and very much not looking satisfied with his decision. Still, he pushed himself completely up from the snow, feeling chills run down his spine as his eyes wandered, scanning over the empty courtyard.

"Yeah, yeah I get it," Quill replied, suddenly motivated at the thrill of doing something against the rules and clearly unmoved by the frustration clearly covering Jesse's features. He was just ready to go do... whatever it was they were about to do. A look of determination flashed upon his face as he looked at Jesse. "So what do we-- er.. what do you do first?" He asked.

The Autumn clicked his tongue after he had made sure nobody else was following them, and motioned the younger to follow him. "First, I make sure no one's going to see me, but, guess what?" he began, his voice growing louder for a second, before he turned with a bitter smile to the other. "Kinda failed on that." Jessé sighed after a moment, before pressing on, kicking the snow in front of his feet.

"What were you doing out at this hour, actually? You seem like a good kid." he asked after a moment, keeping his voice mildly hushed - it wasn't very unusual to catch other students not in their room, even after curfew, but he felt like after all the explanations he had had to give, he was owed at least one. Probably not. Probably what he was doing was far worse.

"Couldnt sleep," he replied casually. "Been happening for a while now. Its actually getting worse." It was probably more information than Jesse had asked for but it had been a while since anyone had asked. Even his mother seemed to have forgotten about his recently acquired insomnia. "I find myself taking a lot more naps during the day though. Maybe that's why I cant sleep." He made sure to follow closely behind Jesse, doing his best to keep his movements quiet.

If he could sleep, he'd be sleeping all the time, most likely. It was a strange concept (almost scary, if he thought about it too much!). He'd watched sleeping people, in a very normal, not creepy way, but he'd never had the occasion himself. Jessé flashed the other his best sympathetic smile, briefly, before returning his attention to the path ahead, nearing the school building. "Have you tried... getting very drunk? It's the closest I get to sleep. What do you call it?" the Autumn stopped for a second, gathering the words that were briefly escaping him. "Ah, passing out. It's like sleep, yeah?"

"Getting drunk?" He repeated, scrunching up his nose in disgust. "I'm only thirteen, I got a few years before I can do that." He went quiet for a minute, pondering what Jesse said. "You cant sleep either, huh? Sounds like your problem is worse than mine though. Have you ever slept?"