(no subject)

[butterflyfactor]

Layla woke up with her arms around Jamie's waist and her cheek pressed to his shoulder, but it didn't feel particularly sexy. She squinched up her face a little before she opened her eyes and looked at the boy in her arms. Definitely a boy. Definitely not a man by any definition. But she could also feel the way her weight was settled, against the bed and against him and to be fair, she wasn't exactly the womanliest she'd ever been.

Oh, boy. Island weekend fun times, I presume.

She sat up a little, looking around, then looked down at Jamie's sleeping face and felt a certain softening of her expression. She reached out to sift her fingers through his hair, then dropped to mattress again and scooted a hand under his arm so her own was looped over his side. She tucked her face against the back of his neck and snuck closer.

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[howmanylives]

In other circumstances, it wouldn't have been that unusual of a morning; Layla often woke before Jamie, especially when the school semester had let out, but these were, decidedly, not other circumstances. The boy she held was just that: a boy, one without any memories of the island upon which they woke, nor the girl who held him. As he drifted awake, liking the feel of fingers in his hair, he cracked open one bleary eye, and shifted a little to get more comfortable, dimly realizing, in that place between dreaming and reality, that this was not his bed, but not yet able to work up the concern such a fact should inspire.

In a small voice, he asked, "Mom?"

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

Oh, shit.

Layla's eyes opened. She looked at the tiny crown of brown hair, then sat up a little, but only a little. She didn't want to pull away. She wasn't sure what would freak him out most, in the moment.

"No," she told him in her small, girlish voice. Had she really sounded like that? Weird. That wasn't how she'd heard herself.

"Jamie, it's me. Layla."

[howmanylives]

Very suddenly, young Jamie Madrox was aware that something was wrong. He'd not awoken next to his mother; for one, his mother's name was Joan, not Layla, and she sounded much older than the girlish voice that had answered. He moved away from the body pressed at his back with a start, getting tangled in a mess of sheets as he turned to face the girl -- Layla.

He'd never seen a girl before, at least not in person, but then, their farm never saw many visitors at all. The experience was a novel one, and awe momentarily overrode fear, his eyes widening as he stared at her.

"Who are you?"

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

Layla pushed herself up so she was sitting cross-legged in her plain black tank top and boy short undies.

"My name is Layla Miller," she told him, while her mind spun over and over and over. He didn't know her. Okay. How was she going to explain this in a way that a nine? Ten? year old boy would accept without being freaked out of his gourd.

[howmanylives]

Jamie nodded a little, though she hadn't really answered his question. A name didn't tell him much at all. "Okay," he said slowly, still looking at her with wide, solemn eyes, "but who are you?"

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

"I'm your friend," she told him, because she figured that was a good place to start.

"I'm here to look out for you."

[howmanylives]

"I've never had a friend before," he replied, not sounding particularly sad by the revelation so much as he did matter of fact. "Why are you looking out for me? Is there something wrong?"

He took a glance around the room, noting that it, too, was not quite right; this wasn't his house at all. A surge of panic seized his chest, but he didn't do something as childish as crying, instead turning back to hold the girl's gaze with an intensity few children possessed. "Where are we?"

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

"We're on a magic island, with all sorts of other people," Layla told him.

"It can be a little confusing, so I'm here for you. To show you around and answer what questions I can."

It's the strangest thing in the world to say. I've told him all this before, never so straightforward. Always in cryptic half sentences, in actions he didn't understand and only vaguely trusted. I wonder if he's going to remember this conversation when he changes back.

Because he has to change back.

[howmanylives]

There was a certain sense to the girl's words, if only in their straightforwardness, but there was a particularly important question that she'd left unanswered. Whether it was or deliberate or not, Jamie hadn't the slightest idea, but as a curious child, it was the only one he could think to ask.

"Why?"

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

Layla hesitated a moment before offering Jamie a small smile- almost shy, or at least as shy a smile as she'd probably ever managed in her life- and reached out to smooth his hair a little.

"Because I love you," she told him honestly, even if it meant something different between the two of them as they were, now.

[howmanylives]

"That's not an answer," he said, frowning thoughtfully. It was the sort of thing his mother would occasionally tell him whenever he asked why he had to wear that uncomfortable suit of his -- a suit he only just realized he wasn't wearing, which was curious in and of itself, though it was too much of a relief to call any attention to it -- but it was because of this similarity that he knew not to press further.

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

"I guess not," she replied, drawing her knees up and resting her chin on him so she could watch him more comfortably.

"Are you scared or anything?"

[howmanylives]

"Should I be?" Jamie asked, twisting his head to look at her, blue eyes wide and unsure.

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

"No," Layla said, "not while I'm around. I promise. Sometimes people get scared of new things, though."

He was so little. That he had ever been this small was a little mind boggling. Compared to Jamie as an adult, the face in front of her was so innocent it was practically unsettling, but it wasn't exactly unburdened.

So in some ways, I'm not the only one who was never really a kid.