The Force runs strong in your family {Gaston Jr}

[Jenny]

Away from the effect of their mother, Jenny was already starting to regret this offer.  She loved her twin, of course she did, but considering they had spent nine months developing in very close quarters, they could not be more different.  Although, Jenny felt like that about all of her siblings.  She'd never really felt like she fit in in Camelot or the Summer Country the way her siblings did, she'd always felt like a bit of an outsider.  Not that it bothered her, she had always been happy to do her own thing and the attention she'd received from the young men around the court had always more than made up for the lack of similarities she had with her brothers and sisters.

But, what their mum had said at the tea had hit home a little.  There was a part of her that did wish that she and her brother were a little closer, she couldn't help but be slightly jealous of the connection that Genevieve and Jesse had.  That was what twins were supposed to be like, but her and Gaston?  She'd never felt that.  And she knew a big part of that was because she was incredibly intolerant of her brother.

And so here she was, outside Gaston's dorm door, attempting to be more tolerant, ready to watch these dumb films her brother loved so much.  She let out a big sigh, rolling her eyes, before knocking on the door.

This was going to suck.

[Gaston Jr]

This was going to be great.

Gaston Jr had decided that this was it, this was the evening the two of them were going to sort everything out and finally be the superhero crime fighting duo he always thought they could be. They would develop their awesome telepathic abilities and be so in sync that they would even be able to finally finish each other’s sentences. It was all he had ever wanted from life.

When he heard the knock on the door he jumped up excitedly and went to answer it. Swinging it open he grinned at his sister and said, “Hi! You actually came! Come in, come in! I have something to show you.”

He stepped out of the way so she could walk into the dorm room he shared with Eddie which of course was covered in Star Wars paraphernalia amongst other geeky things. He then quickly rushed over to the bed where he picked up his most recent purchase, put it on and turned around to face her. “What do you think?”

It was a red leather coat that he had managed to find in one of the clothes shops in Trenale. It would be perfect for his Star Lord cosplay but it also reminded him of something, “doesn’t it look like a modern day version of dads?”

[Jenny]

She stepped into the room with yet another eye roll - which was likely to be the theme of the evening. She stood in the middle of the room and crossed her arms, resting her weight on her right leg as she watched her brother with an eyebrow raised. "Of course I came, I said I would didn't I?" She said, forgetting the tolerance and already sounding irritated. She caught herself, and remembering her mother's words, took a deep breath and tried again. Forcing a smile onto her face, she looked at her brother, this time with both eyebrows at the same height. "I mean - yes, I'm here, this is going to be... erm... great?"

She glanced around the room as Gaston went to get something to show her, and let out a low whistle. "Jeez, Gaston, this place is really... something." She couldn't think of a nice way to tell him that this place was, without a doubt, the nerdiest place she had ever been in her entire life. And not in a good way.

She turned and looked at Gaston as he asked for her opinion. On a normal day, she would have immediately dismissed the coat he was showing her as lame and ugly, but she forced herself to pause and actually look at the thing before shooting him down. Moving forward, she felt the leather and looked at it properly, her eyebrows rising in surprise.

"Actually, this isn't too bad." She said, unable to keep the surprise from her voice. "It does kinda look like Dad's, doesn't it? And it's good quality - I can't see you in a long coat though." She let go of the coat and took a step back. "Put it on, let me see it properly."

[Gaston Jr]

When she was looking around the room he braced himself for the tirade that was sure to come, and thus was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t. He smiled at her and looking around the room himself said, “yeah…it’s a bit much I suppose, but Eddie seems to like it. I keep thinking about maybe taking a couple of posters down…but…I just can’t decide which ones.”

When she wasn’t immediately dismissive of the coat, again he was surprised and grinned happily. In fact, she actually seemed to think that it didn’t look so bad, which was even better. Although she had a point about the long coat thing, “I know what you mean, it does come in a shorter version as well though, so if this doesn’t work I could maybe go back and get that one. I got the long one though cause…well…like I said, sort of looks like dads.”

He did as she asked and put on the coat, even giving her a little spin and said, “Well, what do you think?”

[Jenny]

She studied him for a second, a serious look on her face. There were very few things that Jenny took seriously, but fashion was top of that short list. Folding her arms, she tilted her head slightly as she watched him spin.

"Surprisingly, I think you could actually pull that off." She said with a nod. "Like, you'll need to think carefully about what you wear with it, but you could get away with it. I guess you've got Dad's build, so long coats don't look too awful on you."

Looking around the room again, she wrinkled her nose slightly. She wanted to sit down, but she wasn't sure where - this was very much a boy's room, and a nerdy boy's room at that. She wasn't sure where to sit that wasn't going to be contaminated with nerd cooties or something.

"So... Star Wars?" She couldn't have sounded less enthusiastic if she tried.

[Gaston Jr]

He grinned happily when she said that he might be able to pull it off and said, “well, maybe if you have some free time after this you could maybe help me go through my wardrobe and look for something decent? I…I kind of want to change my image a little…you know…just…stand out a bit more…”

The whole Mordred and Meredith thing had really gotten him down, he realised now that he never even stood a chance if she was in to guys like Mordred. So he had spent a few days glumly brooding about it and when he realised that wasn’t helping he decided that what was really in order was a change. And who better to help with that than his twin.

“I mean, we could do it now if you want,” he said shrugging off the coat and draping it over a nearby chair.

He realised that there wasn’t really anywhere else to sit given that said chair the coat was now draped over had a pile of unread comics on it. He moved over to the bed and shifted some of the stuff away so that Jenny could sit down and said, “ah, yeah, about that. I sort of changed my mind…I uh…I don’t really want to watch star wars right now it…just uh…too many memories. Which is good, for you, I suppose, because I thought of something better, something that you might actually enjoy.”

He rummaged around the desk for the DVD case and pulled out the one thing he swore he would never show to Jenny, but needs must and he really did think she might enjoy it, “Game of Thrones.”

[Jenny]

She raised an eyebrow - he didn't want to watch Star Wars? Since when? She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him questioningly. "Look, I'm not going to complain - I really didn't want to watch Star Wars - but, since when don't you want to watch it? Like, aren't you obsessed with it?" His words registered and she frowned. "Wait, memories? Gaston, what the hell are you talking about? You're being even weirder than usual."

She reached over and took the DVD case from him, looking at it. "I've heard of this... isn't it just, like, a tonne of sex?" She looked up and shrugged. "Sure, gotta be better than Star Wars."

She sat down and handed the DVD case back to Gaston. "So, not that I'm actually interested, but what's going on? Cos, like, clearly something's wrong. So spill."

[Gaston Jr]

“I love Star Wars,” said Gaston Jr as he tried to clear a bit more space for the two of them, “it’s just…”

What to tell her. He and Jenny had never been all that close and anytime they did talk to each other they mostly seemed to end up arguing. So could he really tell her this? Mum wanted them to be closer, she wanted them to start making an effort with one and other, so maybe this was the first step, maybe this was one more step down the road towards that psychic connection he had always wanted with his sister.

“Yeah that’s a pretty big part of it,” he conceded as he took the DVD case off her and headed over to the playstation to pop the disc in, “there’s also a lot of pretty people in it, and I think you might like some of the clothes.”

As he waited for the machine to boot up so he could put the disc in, his back to her he said, “watching Star Wars was something that Meredith and I did…that was sort of…our thing…and…I don’t really want to be reminded of that right now, cause of you know…her and…Mordred…”

He put the disc in and turned back to her, a cheerful expression back on his face and said, “I also got popcorn for tonight, and wait to you see this,” he rushed over to his bedside cabinet and picked up a few cans of mountain dew and a couple of fancy looking glass goblets for the two of them, “thought we could drink out of these.”

He crossed back to her and said, “anyway, enough about me, what’s new with you? How’s the love life?"

[Jenny]

"Clothes and sex - I'm sold." She shrugged as she settled herself in, folding her legs up on the chair underneath her and trying to avoid looking around the room too much, in case she got infected with nerd.

Frowning a little at Gaston's explanation, she tried to work out what the problem was. So, he used to watch the movies with Meredith - well that made sense, she was a total loser as well as far as Jenny was concerned. And she'd slept with Mordred - well who could blame her on that one, although she was a little surprised at Mordred - she thought he had better taste at least. But, whatever, she'd slept with her fair share of questionable one night stands. Although she'd never looked as rough as he had after a one night sta - "Oh my God Mordred is in love with Meredith."

It could never be said that Jenny was the smartest tool in the shed.

"But, so? I still don't see what that has to do with you and her watching - Oh my GOD you're in love with Meredith too!" She exclaimed, slapping her hands on the arms of the chair and staring at him. "Wow. I mean... wow. Like, have you never thought that this little love triangle is like, basically incest? Wow." She suddenly remembered why she was here - to make an effort and to try and forge a better relationship with her twin. She wasn't doing so well. "I mean, erm... god yeah that must, like, really suck for you." That was better.

She reached out and took the goblet, turning it in her hand as she looked at it. "Wow. That's really... cool." She shrugged at his question, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Oh you know, perfect. There's six guys like, fighting for my attention right now." She smirked at him.

He didn't need to know that actually, the whole one night stand, new guy every week thing was getting kind of tiring. He didn't need to know that actually, she kind of wanted to find someone who she could drop the act with, someone who'd stay and talk for a while the next morning. No, no one needed to know that. She had a reputation to maintain, after all.

[Gaston Jr]

“Yeah, that’s what Tristian said,” said Gaston Jr glumly as he sat down on the floor beside the chair Jenny sat in.

It was still a bitter thing to swallow, but he was trying, he was really, really trying. Meredith was his best friend (with the exception of Eddie who was his best male friend), and despite his own feelings for her, he wanted to be there for her still, he wanted to be someone that she could turn too. He didn’t want to be the ‘nice guy finishes last’ who takes it out on the girl, he didn’t want to do that at all, he wanted to just be her friend, because at least that way he still got to be in her life, and that was the important part.

He looked at Jenny in part fear and part shock as she figured out the rest of it. He jumped to his feet and started saying, “don’t tell anyone! I mean, yay! Psychic twin connection clearly already starting to form which is great! But please Jenny don’t say anything. Not even Eddie knows, and it’s not weird, we’re not related! But it doesn’t matter because she’s in love with Mordred too and it’s obvious I never stood a chance so just…don’t…don’t tell anyone.”

He opened the can of mountain dew and poured it into her goblet and in a desperate bid to change the subject said, “Six guys eh? Ha! Awesome…mum will be proud. Are any of them keepers?”

[Jenny]

She rolled her eyes at his panic, folding her arms and watching him as he flustered and rambled. "Oh my god, chill out." She said, waving her hand at him dismissively. "Like I'm going to tell anyone. For starters, the chances of me having any kind of conversation with Meredith that goes further than 'ew what are you wearing' are slim to none, and I don't exactly run in the same circles as you. You're fine. No one I talk will care if you're in love with your brother's sister." She raised an eyebrow at him. "There's your almost-incest, by the way."

She held the goblet out as Gaston poured, watching him carefully. She had never been all that close to her twin, she didn't understand him at all, but even she could see that this whole Meredith thing had him really down. And she didn't want to see him sad, even if he was a complete geek and hung out with a bunch of losers. She sighed, swallowing all her instinct as she spoke. "You know, you're not unattractive. You have a lot of Dad in you, you should make the most of that. Have a bit more confidence. Girls like you, I've heard them talking at school. You're just too obsessed with Eddie to notice it." She smirked at him, raising an eyebrow.

Under any normal situation, there would be chance of her ever confiding anything in any member of her family - except perhaps Tristian, but usually only under duress. But, this whole situation was far from her normal, and she thought for a moment before answering. "Well, there is this one guy. But he's different to my usual guys. He probably doesn't like me at all." She shrugged, thinking about the encounter in the shop. Her eyes widened as she remembered what she had bought. "Oh! I got you something - I forgot." Reaching into her bag she pulled out the red scarf she had picked up when she met Raff and held it out to him. "Here. It'll go well with that coat. I thought it looked like Dad's colours, thought you might like it." She gave him a small smile.

[Gaston Jr]

It was funny, even though he knew now that he never stood a chance with Meredith he had been all ready to defend her when Jenny mentioned her sense of style. To Gaston, Meredith always looked amazing, no matter what she was wearing, from her jeans and t-shirt to her Princess Leila cosplay. However, he didn’t want to do anything that might make Jenny change her mind and tell people about his little crush so he kept his mouth shut as she spoke.

“Don’t say it like that,” whined Gaston Jr, screwing up his face in disgust, “I’m not related to her, thus, not incest.”

Not unattractive? That was what mum said, now Jenny was saying it too. “Could have fooled me,” he said glumly, “if they are interested then they’re keeping very quiet about it. I mean…I’ve tried to be a bit more like dad, you know, the good parts, like being confident and suave but…I don’t know…I’m just as useless at that as I am with everything else Dad wants me to be good at-what do you mean obsessed with Eddie? He’s my best friend, I just want him to be happy,” he brightened up a little and added, “which I’m doing very well at I will have you know. I helped him find his mystery girl that he’d been mooning over.”

Gaston Jr was surprised when his sister opened up to him, pleasantly so. He looked up at her and smiled encouragingly as she spoke. This was different, this was very different, for Jenny to not think a guy liked her…this really was different. His smiled as she held out the scarf and said excitedly as he wrapped the scarf around his neck, “aww that’s great, thanks Jenny, I love it…I uh…I didn’t get you anything…sorry…”

He looked around the room for something and then said, “I could bring over the popcorn?”

He was already on his feet to go and get it and said, “so what makes you think this guy won’t like you? Everyone likes you, you’re awesome. How’s he different from your usual guys?”

[Jenny]

She shook her head, rolling her eyes at her brother. How could two people who had shared a womb for nine months be so different? She'd never had any problem with confidence - she knew she was hot, she knew people wanted her, and she thoroughly enjoyed the fact. But Gaston Jr - they didn't look that unalike, he had a lot of the best parts of both their parents' looks, and yet somehow he still couldn't see that he was more than attractive. "God, Gaston, you're a hottie. Like, not in an incest way, but in a completely objective, stating the obvious way - you are hot. How could you not be when we literally share genes? Just embrace that and that's the first step towards that confidence stuff. And stop being so worried about Eddie's love life and pay a little more attention to your own."

She thought for a second, wondering if she was going to seriously regret her next suggestion, but deciding to go ahead anyway. "Look, why don't you come out with me one night? I'll show you what to do, introduce you to some cute girls. Going out without Eddie and the rest of the loser crew probably wouldn't hurt your options anyway." She said with a raised eyebrow.

She couldn't help but smile when Gaston immediately put the scarf on and smiled excitedly. She wasn't used to giving gifts - she normally received gifts, and she certainly wasn't used to this weird feeling of satisfaction she had at his reaction. Still, she rolled her eyes again, a little more indulgently this time. "God, Gaston, I didn't give it to you so I'd get something back. I just saw it and thought you'd like it. Plus this guy suggested I get you something to, like, improve our relationship or whatever." She shrugged slightly. "But I could eat popcorn though."

Her smile faded a little as Gaston asked about the guy again, and she chewed slightly on her lip, a rare thoughtful expression on her face as she considered the question. "He's just, like, different, you know? Like, you know how guys go all stammering and dumb when I do that hair flick thing? It, like, didn't seem to affect him at all. And I pulled all my moves, but he was just... normal. Like, he was super sweet, he bought me a scarf, but he wasn't like immediately trying to get into mt pants like most guys are." She shrugged. "I don't know. He's super cute though. He has amazing eyes. And hair." She smiled as she thought about the encounter with Raff in the shop.

[Gaston Jr]

Gaston Jr was beginning to think that Game of Thrones maybe wasn’t the best option after all, hadn’t he said to Meredith that it was a bad idea to show Jenny it? However she quickly clarified matters and he even smiled a bit. He supposed she might have a point, didn’t his mother say something similar? But it wasn’t all about looks was it? It was about the person underneath as well…but he supposed Jenny had a point, maybe it was time to focus on the outside…

“They’re not losers,” said Gaston automatically but with a little less defensiveness to his tone and a smile, “you’d really let me tag along with you when you went out? I mean I’m game if you are…just…are you sure?”

Looking at the scarf he smiled and said, “Well I really like it, so thanks. And yes, popcorn, coming right up.”

He went over to the microwave and picking up one of the packets placed it inside and pressed several buttons in a complicated sequence. He was sure there was an easier way to work the machine but neither he nor Eddie had figured out how yet. It was the bane of most of their appliances, they found one complicated way to work it and never bothered to find the shortcut.

He listened to Jenny talk about her guy and smiled, nodding encouragingly as she did so.

“Sounds like a decent guy,” he said genuinely, “so when you seeing him again?”

[Jenny]

"Yes they are." She responded automatically, without even waiting for him to finish speaking. It was a reflex, she couldn't help it. But she nodded as he questioned her offer. "Sure. I mean, like, if it's just us there's no way you'd hurt my rep. As long as you don't talk about Star Wars. Save that for like, the fiftieth date at least. You might have it locked down enough by then that it's not so much of an issue." She said with a raised eyebrow. "We'll go out at the weekend. More options at the weekend. But you have to wear what I tell you ... maybe we should go shopping first..." She faded into silence as she began shopping for him in her head, planning the perfect outfit to show him off, colours to compliment his eyes, the best hairstyle... maybe they should visit Britney in the salon too...

She shook herself out of her daydream and back to reality as she heard the microwave buttons beeping what sounded like far too many times. She almost asked, but decided at the last minute it wasn't worth getting involved - he probably liked that it sounded like a spaceship or something.

She shrugged at his question, taking a sip of her drink and trying her best to look like she didn't care, like she wasn't bothered at all. Which she was pretty much completely failing at. "I don't know, whenever. He goes to school here, so we're like, bound to bump into each other." Especially once she set her minions on the task of discovering his routine and reporting back to her, so she could 'accidentally' happen to be in the same place at the same time as him.