FIREFLIES - Eyeless Jack X Reader

Chapter 15 - Game Plan

It's been about five days since my last conversation with EJ, y'know, the one where he dropped a huge bomb on me. I'm still reeling from it all, to be honest. But, I think I'm doing well, all things considered.

It is admittedly a little jarring having so much of freedom back, but hey it's helluva lot better than how it was before. I'm not restrained to any one part of the house, I can fully walk out the door if I want to, and I'm not stuck eating whatever EJ can scrounge up.

I'm staying because I want to be here, not because I'm forced to.

Also, I think he expects me to sneak away in the middle of the night, because every morning he seems shocked that I'm still there.

EJ and I have talked a little bit more about the whole curse thing, but we don't have anything set in stone. There's a lot of unknowns and things just up in the air, so we can't do a whole lot right now.

However, during this down time I've discovered a lot of interesting things about him. Since he has confirmed that he was just a normal dude before everything went to shit, a lot of the weird things about him are making much more sense. The cold skin, the talon fingernails, the gray skin, the ink (that's from him by the way! The ink is actually hot tar coming from his eyes) it's all part of the curse. And were all forced on him by that...cursed god...thing. Either way, I figured if I get some insight about how his body works, it'll give me clues somewhere else.

So, here's a few observations:

He doesn't like electronics. He avoids the kitchen as much as possible as a constant, but whenever I turn on the microwave he immediately goes somewhere 'quieter'. (When asked why he does this, he told me he hears a high pitched electric hum that I can't pick up on. He says it's like nails on a chalkboard and it's so loud it drives him crazy. Cellphones and the tv also have the same effect.)

He will go very far out of his way to avoid touching me, unless it's necessary. I think this one is more psychological than anything else, honestly. He keeps those weird gloves on around the clock unless I nag him to take them off. He makes sure to keep some kind of distance from me at all times. (But! I have discovered that if I initiate touch, he's less likely to pull away. For the past 4 days I have been testing out how far he'll let me go, and it seems he'll let me damn near crawl into his lap as long as I'm the one making the move first. He just goes stiff as a board and lets me do what I want.)

He REALLY loves soft blankets. He's especially fond of the ones fresh from the dryer, 'cause they're still warm. He cocoons himself in there as often as he can and just curls up like a cat. (I think this is also why he's always wearing that same black hoodie. He gets cold.)

He takes long showers. This is probably just another part of the last one, but he really lets that water boil while he's in there. Whenever he leaves, a plume of steam follows. (He is also always fully dressed, mask included, whenever he leaves the bathroom. I, of course, find this odd but then again it is EJ so like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ not the weirdest thing about the guy.)

He likes listening to music, but can't stand when it's played through a speaker. This is really just an extension of the first one, but there's an incredible record collection in here, old school Gramophone included. He plays music a lot, and I think he'll listen to anything as long as it's on a record. Also, I'm pretty sure his music taste is starting to rub off on me now.

He sleeps! In fact he sleeps a lot more than I first thought he would. I'd say his average is about 1-2 naps a day, maybe 3 if he's stressed or hungry. He can fall asleep just about anywhere, actually. I've caught him curled up in the corner of the room, shoved in between the washer and dryer, he even slept on top of the fridge once. But he always looks like he's in pain the way he sleeps, with knees tucked so far into his chest they reach his chin.