Make Some Noise (Jacques)

[Ainsley Cooper]

So, Ainsley was bored. Ainsley was more often than not bored and being bored led the back things, like thinking about death and whatnot, so he had decided to talk a walk. Classes were over for the day, so the auditorium was empty and quiet. And Ainsley was ruining it. He liked to destroy.

But he wasn't being too destructive or too loud, which both where out of character for him. He was bent under the chairs, looking for treasure. He had so far found one (non functioning) ball point pen, a nickle and a rubber band. Not bad. He wiggled out from under the chairs and hiked up his pink skinny jeans (no doubt either stolen from the girl's locker room or maybe a little sister) and smoothed down his vibrant violet hair.

"Well, it ain't bad." He muttered, even his quiet raspy voice echoed in the vast room. "But it ain't going to pay the bills." He dusted off his pants and jumped up onto the stage. There was a piano and after a quick glance to see that no one was around, he started playing Chopsticks. It wasn't the only thing he could play, but it was the most fun, AND the most annoying, especially to proper music students.

[Deleted]

How odd. There was no one around here. Jacques stopped in the middle of the corridor, hands in jeans pockets and bottom lip between his teeth. This was unnatural - schools weren't supposed to be empty. Where would everyone be? Maybe there was a production on? Oh, that sounded like a great idea!

Since he was already near the auditorium, he loped over, hoping for a good bit of entertainment. What was the school play? Surely they had a school play. "Or perhaps not," Jacques muttered to himself, looking at the vastly empty space. That was disappointing.

But hey - what was that? Suddenly there was noise, a piano playing some random choppy rhythm that he'd heard too much to not be able to not recognize it, yet he didn't. And he didn't recognize the person either. With a grin, he pushed off the ground, floating all the way over to the piano player in a nice, big arc, landing right behind him.

"Whatcha doin'?" Jacques asked with a smirk, British accent coloring his voice as he leaned forwards, resting an arm on the other's shoulder.

[Ainsley Cooper]

Ainsley had slipped into his own world, hardly aware of the sounds around him, he had started up with funny sounding piece in minor. He played emotionally, but it was rather clumsy. He had never taken lessons, but would probably take well to them. Then that voice interrupted him and he nearly cried out in shock, but bit down on his lower lip lightly instead. "Gah!" He exclaimed after a long. "You cer-tan-ly caught me with mah drawers down, didant ya?" He laughed nervously, brushing his hair back from his brow.

He turned slightly, catching sight of the pretty good. He wasn't particularly Ainsley's type, Ainsley liked them much darker than this boy appeared to be but it didn't stop him from looking. He shrugged at the question. "I dunno, I was jus' kinda playing around, ya know?" He turned slightly, but it was hard to with his arm on his shoulder.

"Do ya mind?" He slipped over, sneaking out from under his arm. He was not fond of that business called physical contact. It was mostly usually an easy way to get attached and no, getting attached did NOT work for Ainsley anymore. "Ya new, then, I reckon?" He asked, he was still confused as to why this jock like person was being so friendly. He squinted at him for a moment. "Are ya irish or something?" He asked, licking his bottom lip. Nope, Ainsley was not very cultured. He knew a New York accent, a Southern accent like his own and a Canadian accent, but couldn't not place the boy's.

[Deleted]

Jacques grinned, musical talent wasn't anything he was used to having. Well, nothing beyond a couple of lessons that every parent had their child take when they were smaller of course. He couldn't help laughing; partially because he'd scared someone and partially because of the strange accent and syntax.

"Sure I did. What's your definition of drawers?" He asked playfully, "I see you still got your pants up," he nodded. Bright pink. Not much his type. To be honest, almost everything about this person was bright. "You play? I mean, play piano, of course," Jacques corrected himself, stepping away a tad and letting his arm rest on his hip instead. Ah well. Physical contact wasn't for everyone then. It happened enough for Jacques to be used to being rejected. It wasn't everyone's cup o' tea after all.

"New? I guess I am," he nodded, giving a half shrug, smiling carelessly. "Irish?!" He asked disbelievingly, shaking his head, "completely off, my good man! I'm a Londoner!" Jacques declared, "Jacques Bandeaux's the name, and yours?" He asked.

[Ainsley Cooper]

"Ah, drawers, underwear. Kinda like ya caught me with my pants down, caught me while I wundant expectin' it." He laughed his airy laugh, lips smiling. It vaguely touched his eyes, but in a disconnected kind of way. "I got a whole whack of sayins, if I evers say somethang that dun make sense, it's probably a sayin' and I dun min' explainin' em."

"Oh..." He said, as if he had forgotten that there was even a piano there. "Yeah, A little, mostleh self taught. Never had lessons or nuthang." He plunked out a few more notes. "I kinda make up thangs that sound good, ya ken?" He asked, nibbling on his bottom lip. "I'm gettin' better, I ain't never had access to a piano like this before coming here." He smiled slightly, leaning back and swinging his legs over the other side of the bench so he was actually facing the boy.

"Sorry! I ain't got no exposure to folk out of country! I ain't never heard a real british accent before! I ain't got T.V at home." He held out his hands in front of him, all defense. "I didn't mean ta upset you." He said weakly.

"Ainsley Cooper." He held out a hand for a quick shake. "So what brings ya all the way out here? Yer far from home, that's fer sure." Ainsley ran a hand through his messy purple hair, trying to smooth it out. Not that he was trying to look good for the boy but although not his type, he was pretty cute. Hopefully he wouldn't get himself beat up.

[Deleted]

Jacques raised his eyebrows, just a saying then. Too bad. Maybe some other time then. "No problem," he assured easily, "just checking, man, no sweat," he answered, grinning and deciding not to pursue the matter any further. "Takes the fun outta sayings if you have to explain them all," Jacques nodded as though he understood the feeling, when to be honest, he never put effort in trying to come up with his own arsenal of sayings.

"Self-taught? Pretty darn good for someone who's self taught," he mused aloud, "I say you might have it in there for a good career in music. Earn lots and lots of money," and lots of fans and pretty people too. Rock star life sounded pretty glamorous and definitely fun. Fun was always nice.

Jacques couldn't help laughing, "upset? If you really wanted to do that, you'd have to try a lot harder," he told the pink-haired boy, "Mr. Ainsley Cooper," he added for the fun of it, gripping the other's hand loosely, remembering that he didn't like contact. Ugh. Troublesome.

"School, what the parents say, you know," he explained with a vague wave of his hands, "landed myself here after a couple of bad moves. But you get over it and all, you know. Boarding school can't be that bad," Jacques hadn't had a real experience with boarding schools before so he really had no idea. "Maybe being special isn't so bad then. Everyone here's got a power, I hear. What's yours?" He asked curiously.

[Ainsley Cooper]

Ainsley shrugged. "Well then, I won't be tellin' you all of them, hows that sound, bucko?" He grinned, a tight smile, strained nearly. "Learnt a lot of em from mah ma." He licked his lips. "An' grew up in a trailer park, so you kinda pick up all the hillbilly sayins." He held up his hands as if saying 'well, what can you do? "I'm trailer trash, but at least I knows it. Although I can talk better English if I try, it's hard though, guess of like how it would be hard for you to talk without your accent."

"Naw, yer barking up the wrong tree." He told Jacques. "I ain't never goin' ta be famous for it, mark mah words." He licked his lips, looking back over his shoulder at the piano. Too bad, too, he thought, I actually like playing the damned thing.

He grabbed the boys hand firmly, it's not that all contact bothered him, but anything more than a friendly shake was too risky. Hugs... That was one thing he didn't do. Hugs were too close, as if Ainsley was worried they'd be able to smell his sickness on him. "Nice to meet ya and how do you do?" He grinned that phony smile, it passed pretty well, but it felt so... Out of place. He stood up, putting his hands on the small of his back and leaned back. His spine popped loudly a few times and he let out a sigh. "Now that's better."

He nodded, watching the boys hands flutter about. He was more graceful than he looked, or at least that's what Ainsley suspected. "Ah, naw, and ya get to know everyone so much bettah than at a regular ol' borin' school." Ainsley drawled. "Oh, yeah, I forget about that sometimes." He giggled to himself and shook his head. "Acid generation, I can ooze acid." He put a hand on his hip. "But I ain't showin you, it's a mess ta clean up inside without needing a whole clean up crew in body suits." He wrinkled his nose. "Whaddya got?" He asked. "Something cool I hope!"

[Deleted]

"Sure thing," Jacques grinned effortlessly, quite the opposite to Ainsley's expressions. It bothered him a little, but figured that he probably had his own reasons. Everyone had their own reasons and secrets. His eyes gleamed as the trailer park was mentioned; what wouldn't he give to try that out? "I'm jealous," he declared, "I've always wanted to try that out, but it's hard to find trailers down in London so I never got to." Ooh, that was the next thing to do - sneak out of school and find a trailer to live in.

"Positive. Always think positive," he told the pink-haired boy. "Otherwise life gets boring," he rolled his eyes at the word boring. Terrible, terrible word. "Fine, my good man, I'm fine," Jacques replied, a little surprised at the strong grip. Well then, maybe not all contact was bad. He shook his head, smiling as Ainsley cracked his back, "stiff joints?"

Jacques debated about the pros and cons of a boarding school, deciding eventually that thin walls were bad and cameras were even worse. Especially if there were any hot people around. "Forget?" Jacques echoed. We're powers easy to forget? "That's some serious stuff there," he declared, "we could go outside?" He suggested, really wanting to see how this acid worked. Chemistry wasn't his best subject but chemicals were fun.

"Gravity manipulation," he said with an impish grin, releasing the Earth's gravity on Ainsley and allowing him to float an inch above the ground. "That fit cool?"

[Ainsley Cooper]

Ainsley thought about home for a moment. "It's small, livin' in a trailer, mah room here is a lot bigger than at home...." He coughed lightly. " But our trailer had two bedrooms and a living room and kitchen. An' a porch. We had us a big porch. We built it around the trailer. Complete wrap around." He said proudly. "But if ya don't build a porch, you can move a trailer around, sounds to me like you've gots yerself a pair of itchy feet and it sounds like it'd suit ya just fine."

He nodded vaguely. "It's jus' a bad habit o' mine." He explained. "I do it without even thanking about it. My mothers always hated it." Ainsley's eyes followed the boy as he talked, he was smooth, confident. "Yeah, welll I ain't allowed to use my power inside, cus the acid I make can cause fumes and corrodes the lungs, nose and eyes of humans without mah power. So, it's easy ta forget I have them."

His feet slowly lifted off the ground and so did the weight he was carrying. "Well shut mah mouth." He uttered slowly, kicking out a foot, it propelled him a few. "Damn! That's got ta be a fun power! Boy, I would never walk!" He giggled, stretching out his toes to touch the floor lightly. For the first time, there was a genuine smile touched his lips. "Now you've shown me yours, now I guess I gotta show ya mine." He gave him a wink. His spirits were obviously higher.

" Alright, put me down and we'll go out side."

Ainsley headed for the door and down a set of stairs. "You can't touch it." He warned seriously. "It can burn human skin, I thank the science teacher here checked it out and he said it was hydrochloric acid...." He said hydrochloric nice and slow, he found it to be a tongue twister.

Once they had hit grass, he held out a hand and liquid bubbled from his hand, dripping into the grass. It hit and started to hiss, the grass turning yellow where the acid had touched it, then disappear as the acid ate it. He rubbed the back of his head with his other hand. "Wish I could make it, like gush or something, but alls I can do is get it to ooze. I've tried everythang.|"

[Deleted]

Jacques tried to imagine himself living in a trailer all for himself. It sounded like a cool life - except for the cleaning part, which he probably wouldn't do if he lived alone. Maybe some other person in the trailer then. Someone who'd clean. And provide entertainment of course. Space didn't sound much like a problem, though he'd probably have to pick out the things that mattered the most to him. "Sounds like a cool place," he decided, trying to imagine the trailer. A porch would be fun, but he'd pass unless it was extendable.

"That's it," he decided, clapping his hands together, "I'm going to get a trailer in June, tour the States for a year or so, then go back and start university in England," Jacques grinned to himself, thinking that it was a great idea. His parents should have enough money to get him a license and a trailer so it was no problem.

Just seeing his power at work was enough to make Jacques to start grinning. That was always the fun part about using it - seeing people's awed faces as they suddenly found themselves able to fly. Or stay stationary and not be able to move at all. "Walking is annoying compared to just floating, isn't it?" He agreed, smirking as he returned Ainsley's feet back to the ground, "it's especially helpful with stairs," he added as he followed the pink-haired boy.

Just as he'd said, he used his power, jumping lightly and floating down above the stairs instead of walking all of them. As he touched the ground again, he gave Ainsley a dazzling smile, ending the little demonstration. His expression softened to understanding when he was warned about the power, but soon forgot about it.

"That's some cool shit," Jacques declared, watching as some liquid just rolled off Ainsley's fingertips. "Doesn't it hurt you?" Whoa - the grass was gone just like that. Gone to someplace else. Wasn't as fun as watching different chemicals explode or change colors but still fun nonetheless.

"It's why we're in school, huh? To learn to deal with all this," he rolled his eyes before deciding to flop down on the grass. So what if it was cold? It felt nice. "Just gonna chill here for a while, care to join me?" Jacques asked, looking up at his companion and raising an eyebrow.

[Ainsley Cooper]

"Ha!" He barked a short laugh. "Trailers dun cost much, but I reckonmend that you stay in the warmer states, I mean, our trailer ain't got no heating, maybe ya can get some that do." Ainsley explained. "I remember one winter that it dropped to five degrees, jesus, it was freezing."

He admired the boy as he came down the stairs. It was impressive, and he smirked to himself, knowing he had been right about the boy's grace on his feet. "Yer one lucky son of a bitch, that's all I can say." Ainsley snickered.

He shrugged. "It's not gone... All of the compounds are still there, but orangic matter is broken down and becomes liquid, I know with metals, you can reverse the reaction with other chemicals, but living things..." He shook his head. "They ain't never coming back." It was one of Ainsley's flashes of intelligence. He wasn't dumb, but some people had a hard time seeing past his accent and speech.

"Naw, I'm like immune ta it, and it ain't just my acid either, I experimented. Even acid I didant make didant hurt me." He shrugged. "So if you ever need something that's sitting in a pot of acid, I can get it fer ya." He bent down, wiping the remainder of the acid on the grass. "Sos far I can't absorb it back, dun even know if I can."

He flopped into the grass next to the boy. "Mind if I smoke?" He asked, fumbling a battered pack of smokes out of his back pocket. He didn't sit too close to the boy, but across from him. "It's a filthy habit I know." He muttered. "So, what do ya like doing fer fun?" He asked.

[Deleted]

Jacques grinned widely, "I'm going aaaaall over, mate, gotta see everything. Even the depths of Alaska, freezing or not," he said, eyes gleaming in anticipation, although this said trip was almost an entire year away - not to mention that nothing was set in stone yet. Ah well, he'd have to ask for a trailer with heating then. "Hey, you up for it? I mean, I don't know when you'd graduate, but it'd be pretty cool to have you along," he suddenly decided. They could get into restricted areas and stuff if Ainsley burned locks and stuff down.

"Why thank you," Jacques grinned at the compliment regarding his power. He honestly felt like the luckiest person in the world to have a power like that. So what if he was obnoxious? That was how he lived life. Gravity manipulation was almost the perfect gift for mischief and getting into places he wasn't supposed to get into.

He raised an eyebrow, clearly not knowing what Ainsley was saying. Chemistry wasn't his strong point. All he really understood was something about metals being not gone and living things being gone. Forever and ever and ever... Yeah. He didn't say that though.

"Pretty cool, do you get drunk?" Jacques had no idea what alcohol had to do with acid, but he still asked it anyways. There was something about alcohol poisoning that Xavier was always yelling at him about. He'd never had it before though. So he wasn't too affected by what his brother had been saying. "It'd suck if you don't get drunk," he grimaced. That'd just defeat the point of drinking.

"Smoke all you like. I don't mind. Tried it once personally but decided that I don't like it that much," he shrugged, yawning and stretching out luxuriously. "Fun? That's such a broad term!" Jacques said, waving his hand in an arc, "well, for starters, I make random bets with people. Then if I'm more bored, I skip school, maybe drink and find some party. Maybe find a nice girl or guy to sleep with." He could go on for ever and ever if he wanted to. "Well then, I guess that's that about me!"

He turned his head so that he could see Ainsley, "what about you? Got any cool hobbies? You drive? I hear that people can drive really early here, sixteen is it?"

[Ainsley Cooper]

"Yeah, if I make it out of here alive, sure, why the hell not." He shrugged vaguely. Maybe having plans past this school year would be good for the spirit. It was nice to fantasize about going all across the country. "I've onleh ever been ta my hometown and here. Ain't really seen the rest of this Glorious Un-nigh-ted States o' America." He gave a corny little salute with his fag tucked between two fingers.

"Ah, does a fish swim in the water?" He questioned rhetorically to the boy, giving him 'the look'. You know the look. The look that states, did you become an idiot or were you born that way- look. "If ya'd like to go back to mah room, I gots me some moonshine." He grinned deviously. "Boy, you ever tried homemade moonshine before? It'll knock yer socks off." Ainsley lit up the smoke he had been holding and inhaled deeply. He stifled the cough itching in his chest and smiled faintly.

"I sure do!" He exclaimed, been driving since I was twelve, but only lee-gally since I was sixteen." He said proudly. "Gots me a battered ol' ford back home. I learned manual." He said, as if with some sort of religious awe. Manual was much cooler than learning automatic.

"I find it fun ta piss people off fer a reaction, and I like to do do graffiti work, you seen the skeleton on the wall by the pool? Yeah, that's mine." He leaned back. "I like setting shit on fire..." It was pronouced far. "I like ta be... What did the Joker call it... Agent of chaos, I thank. Some men jus' like ta watch the world burn." He wasn't as... Reckless as he made himself out to be, but he had... tipped a little into fantasy to help cope with his... Condition.

[Deleted]

"Hold it," Jacques held up a hand, turning on his side to inspect Ainsley, "what do you mean by 'if I make it out of here alive'?" As far as Jacques was concerned, the school looked pretty darn safe (except the power thingy, but hey - Ainsley wasn't gonna be targeted, was he?) Then what was it? Owing someone money? Sick? Nah, he didn't look sick. He had, however, mentioned something about cigarettes.

He raised an eyebrow, having no idea what the pink-haired boy was talking about. Wait. Maybe it was an expression. It sounded vaguely familiar, but argh! Probably wasn't important anyways. Jacques grinned and rolled his eyes. He was how he was. "Moonshine," Jacques considered it, nodding. "Remind me some other time, hm? I'd get it now but I'm the slightest bit too lazy to actually go all the way back for some alcohol. Sounded fun though - maybe for some other time.

Jacques snapped, pointing at Ainsley, "all the more reason for you to come," he declared. "You have a license and have been driving. I haven't ever gotten behind the wheel of a car," oh, that sounded like he was missing out on stuff now. He needed to learn. "Isn't manual a pain in the arse to learn?" It certainly sounded like a lot of trouble and looked like it too. He was no stranger to catching rides from other people.

He shook his head; he wasn't that big on swimming, but now that he had incentive - why not? He'd go visit the pool at some point in time. "The Agent of Chaos, huh?" Jacques mused, nodding slowly. "I like you," he informed Ainsley unnecessarily. "don't give a shit, can drive, got booze 'nd all. Not a lot of people I know are like that." Suddenly life got a little better with someone to hit up.

[Ainsley Cooper]

"Alright, well ya know where the boys dorms are." He told him, "Mine's the door with the plaque readin' "Ainsley Cooper'." He said with a small amount of humor in his voice. He smoked on his cigarette and this time he couldn't help but cough. "Jus' a sayin'." He explained to the boy. "I jus' never expected ta get as far as eighteen, always had a feeling I'd die before then. Dunno why." Ainsley shrugged his shoulders and looked up to the sky. His mind was screaming ABORT ABORT ABORT! in an attempt to get the boy to change subject before it was too late, but then Jacques, Ainsley liked him even more, already moved the topic along.

"I reckon it's hard fer most people, but I took to it like a fish ta water." He cracked his neck loudly. "I love manual, it's like... You get ta learn the car, like when yer in love with someone." Ainsley loved his car, but that was like most teenage boy. "I dun think I've ever loved nobody as much as I love that car." He paused for a moment. "Save my ma." He said quietly. "What's yer family like?" He asked. "Mine's just me and ma." He crushed out the smoke in the grass.

"What can I say, I don' give a shit, we're only young once, and in twenty years, we won't have time for this shit, we'll have jobs, or still be in university, some o' us'll have kids... We won't be able ta get away with shindigs like this." He grinned, a sharp vicious thing, because he was about to say something he hated, but it was for the irony. "What is it kids these days say?" He questioned. "Oh, yeah..."

"YOLO!"

Ainsley cracked himself up, rolling onto his side in laughter. It was airy and thin, but it was there. It took him a few moments to compose himself. "So, anyway..." He wheezed, wiping a tear away from his eye.