reflection ● jason grace

Reyna...

 "Daria, if you start crying, I'm dropping you as a friend."

"Nathan," Clara said seriously. "Shut the fuck up."

The three of them were in Clara's room in the Third Cohort as was tradition. Somehow, girl's night had expanded to include Nathan, mostly because he liked to gossip (Reyna still thought the whole thing was stupid).

"Great," Daria mumbled, pressing pause on the laptop they borrowed from the library. They only had 10 rentals; technically, they shouldn't have this one, but Nathan promised to return it before dawn, and if he used a little charmspeak, no one had to know. "You made Clara swear."

Daria fixed her friend with a hard glance. Nathan, like the other two, wore gray sweatpants and a t-shirt so that you could see all the scars they'd gained over the years. "And besides, who said I was going to cry?"

Nathan shrugged, drawing the blankets up to his chest. None of them ever planned on staying as late as they did, but it was nearly 1 in the morning now. Daria didn't want to think about what would happen if they tried to sneak back. "Girls are dramatic."

"Nathan," Clara's face was deadpan straight as it usually was when she talked to him. "When you found out about Jason smoking, you cried into Dakota's shoulder for an hour."

Nathan's face turned red. "Traitor."

"Did I do something?" Daria found herself asking. "Like, has he said anything to either of you about me?"

"I wouldn't worry too much, Daria," Clara said sincerely. She was in the middle of the two, probably because Nathan and Daria would start shoving each other otherwise. "Jason's not being very nice to anyone anymore."

"Maybe he found out about you and Michael," Nathan suggested. "Jason's the jealous type, right?"

"No."

"Well, then he hates you," Nathan said, eating poison. "Sorry, Dars."

She glared at him. "You're the one who wanted me to talk to him!"

"Did you even talk to him about the cigarettes?" Nathan shot back. "Because it sounds like you were just flirting with him. Unsuccessfully, I might add."

Daria shook her head, hugging one of the pillows to her chest. "You used your charmspeak and he still didn't listen?"

Nathan and Clara shared a glance. "A lot happened when you were gone."

That made Daria nervous. "Like?"

"Daniel," they said at the same time. Daria understood immediately.

"And Ryan, from what I understood." Clara grimaced. "We're all worried about him. I've had to bandage his fingers twice because he keeps picking at them. I don't think he hates you, Daria. But I also don't think that's what we should be focusing on."

"Yeah, let's focus on Michael," Nathan relaxed. "Guy's almost as hot as Chris Evans, and you're focused on the skinny white boy?"

"You date him then," Daria fired back.

Clara squinted. "Aren't you a skinny white boy?"

"Dearest Clara," he said, draping himself over her, fuzzy blanket and all. "I'm very gay. That makes me extraordinarily interesting, and Jason so, incredibly, dull."

"I can't imagine why he hates us," Daria said dryly.

"Jason's not your main problem," Clara said. "Reyna though..."

Daria stared at the ceiling. Clara's room was covered in plants and green things, all of which was very aesthetically pleasing, but between all the time she spent training and volunteering at the Med Bay, Daria didn't know where she found the time.