grace under pressure • jerome valeska

CHAP.44: Hathead

  "Oh come on tell me!" I squeal as I bounce on the end of Jerome's bed. He was laid down on his back, his hands behind his head with his eyes closed. But despite this he had a smile on his face. But he wouldn't tell me anything. At all. 

  Earlier we both had seen a man by the name of Jervis Tetch aka The Mad Hatter, being dragged down the hall. We both had heard of him but I hadn't really thought much of him. Yeah. He put the city into a state of panic more than once but that didn't really concern me. Plus, who really cared about someone disrupting things? It seemed everyone did that now a days. But Jerome however, seemed to think differently. 

  Once we had seen the wide eyed man who seems to love to rhyme, Jerome hadn't talked at all expect one time saying that I'd "see" when I asked him what he was thinking about. So, like anyone would do, I bombarded him with questions until he started to walk away. And then I followed him to his room despite him trying to lock me out. I managed to get in obviously and now I was hopping on the edge of his bed begging for him to tell me what he was thinking. I have always hated not knowing things. It was like a physical pain so right now my chest hurt not knowing what was going through his head. He kept a smile on his face the entire time. I didn't even know Jerome could stay quiet for this long. 

  I narrowed my eyes and pushed his legs with a huff. 

  "Gingyyyyyy plllllleeeeaaaassseeeeee!" I whine. He still stays quiet. I click my tongue and crawl over to him, lying down next to him with my head in my hands. I stare at him, trying to annoy him into talking. He didn't move. I knew he knew I was staring at him even though his eyes where closed and his smile lifted a little bit more up his face. I take a long exaggerated sigh. I sit up and try to think. I finally groan, putting my head back, not thinking of anything that could make him talk to me. 

  "UUUUGGGGHHHH! I will literally do anything to get you to talk." I say angrily. That is when he finally popped one eye open, raising a brow at me. I crease my brow but then realize why he opened one eye. I laugh and push his shoulder. "Dirty minded much!" He chuckled, closing his eye back up. I frown then push him again. He simply lays there. 

  After some time of whining, pacing around the room, pushing, and yelling, I finally sigh and rest my head on his chest, breathing out. 

  "I give up." I say in an annoyed tone, looking at my nails. After saying that I feel a hand slither underneath me and wrap around my waist, pulling me closer to the body next to me and I look up to see Jerome looking at me with a smile on his face. He shakes his head at me. 

  "I thought you told me you'd never give up on anything?" He says, tilting his head at me before grinning and tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. I smile a bit. 

  "Yeah but your the most stubborn person I've ever met." I say simply, resting my head on the pillow. He laughed, his smile widening but a lot more warm than crazy like. I think I was the only one to ever see that smile. He showed me his soft side. The side of him he would never show to anyone else because he considered it weakness. But with me he was different. Because we had something no one would ever have. Even if he truly was stubborn. I nod at him. 

  "So are ya gonna tell me what you've been thinking about for the past two hours?" I say, smirking. He sighs, looking up to the ceiling. 

  "I don't know...maybe your not ready." He says, his smile taking a cocky turn before looking back to me. I feel my jaw drop, putting a hand to my chest. 

  "Um, excuse me?" I say. He laughs again. I punch his arm. 

  "Ow." He complains, rubbing his arm. I roll my eyes.