"...I don't know," Jake said quietly, looking to Draco before sighing as his eyes closed again. "I don't know if I'd be able to take when I only get silence in return. They know where I am, and they don't even ask Jenn about me. I think they're glad I'm not there to embarrass them by being a fag." A quiet snort, but he forced a smile to his lips. "Come on, better topics than this, okay?"
Draco got up and placed his hands on Jake's shoulders forcing him to look up at the wizard. "Stop calling yourself that. Who you like doesn't make you any different anyone else. You're still you. I don't want to hear you say that in reference to yourself again, okay?" He spoke in a firm tone, one he rarely used.
"We'll eventually figure out something. Did you want to introduce me to your sister today?"
Jake's brows went up at that sudden seriousness in Draco, looking up with surprise in confusion before a small smile returned. "Sorry, Dragon. Just heard it too much from them in the past." He reached up with both hands to pull Draco into a kiss.
"Right, come on, let me show you off to Jenn. She should be up and about." He stood up, might have patted Draco's backside before he dashed to the bedroom, coming back with his laptop and putting it in front of Draco on the table.
"MacBook. Macs are a kind of computer- the white Apple is their logo." Tapping it on the back, but he nudged it a little. "Open her up."
Draco wore a confused look as Jake made an attempt to explain things. He tentatively prodded the computer with his wand before he placed it on the table.
He glanced back at Jake with a skeptical look. "Are you sure you want to trust me with your computer?" He asked. He really didn't want to break it or mess it up.
Jake couldn't help but chuckle at the prod. "It's aluminum, I don't think you'll hurt it." He reached down and opened it up, tucking his chair closer. "Basics - on button." He pushed it, watching the screen light up out of sleep. "Login screen. Keeps your computer protected from just anyone using it. See this little blinking line? Wherever that is, you'll type." Pointing down to the keyboard.
"First thing first, try typing 'luckyisadog'. No laughing at my password."
Draco ended up chuckling at the password despite Jake saying not to. He did understand needing a password since their rooms at Hogwarts all had passwords. Hesitantly he pecked away at the password being careful he hit the right one and not too much. It was strange and awkard and when he finished he looked up at Jake for the next instructions.
He was a bright student, but this was foreign for him. It was going to take a while.
Jake gave a light whap to Draco's shoulder for the chuckle, but chuckled himself. "Alright, hit enter- this key here. Good. See, now it'll let you into the computer properly. All these little pictures are icons- they open up things you can do on the computer." The background was Jake, Lucky, and a girl leaning on him that didn't look anything like him.
He tapped the girl. "That's Jenn, by the way. She's five years older than me."
"Oh...I had expected maybe a year or two older. I didn't think there was that much of an age gap," Draco admitted surprised by the information as he studied the picture. He could tell how close the two were, the picture spoke volumes to one who didn't know them to well. "Granted-- it's pretty typical in our community. Sometimes there are larger age gaps between siblings."
Then Draco focused more on the icons, Jake was trying to explain. He felt they all looked the same to him. "Which one am I looking for?" he asked.
"When my mum had Jenn, they still wanted another child so badly, but Jenn was... not an easy pregnancy. She almost died giving birth to her, so they decided after a while that they would adopt, instead, and that's how I came to be with them." He gave a small smile at that.
He peered curiously for a moment. "Why is that typical with you? The age gap?"
He reached out and took Draco's hand, folding his fingers in except for his index finger, then put it lightly on the trackpad. "Try moving your finger around, this little arrow -" pointed it out, "will follow you. Try moving it over to the icon of the blue S."
"I never really thought about why, just accepted it. I think some of its due to families trying to stay with the pureblood line. That offers a smaller selection. Unless you want to go down the route of marrying cousins." At that particular statement he made a face. "I also think some of age gaps weren't planned. But then... My mother's story is similar with your mum. She almost didn't have me. My father almost lost the both of us."
Draco let Jake guide his hand showing him how to use the trackpad. He purposely messed up as an excuse for Jake to help him enjoying the physical contact.
Brat. Jake glanced to Draco with a little smirk before he ended up just hooking his chin over Draco's shoulder, murmuring by his ear. "Come on, give it another shot."
"I'll admit though, I'm glad you're not the product of marrying cousins. That can't end well." He shook his head before chuckling. "I can't imagine how it could be kept so pure... I mean, people fall in love, don't they? Trysts and all that other stuff that happens between people."
He simply gave a mischievous grin even though his plan was foiled. After another effort he managed to do what was requested.
"Eh, there are strict rules we have to follow and an image that's expected of us. It used to be the thing back then...when my parents were in their prime. But now it's really not that big of a deal. It's been shown that being pure isn't all cracked up to be. At the most it just gives us more privileges. In order to keep going a lot of people starting marrying outside of the community and not just out of necessity but out of love too," Draco explained.
"But for families like mine...that's considered improper and as you can see my aunt as an example. I just think it's a bunch of b.s. Although, I know eventually my parents are going to try to arrange some kind of marriage that's expected of me, which I really don't want."
Jake had the feeling Draco didn't always believe it was B.S., but he kept that thought to himself. Probably, like himself, played to everything his parents wanted him to be when he was a kid until it started to compound too much and he couldn't take it any more. ...Maybe, because everything with these wizards seemed so strange at times he wasn't sure he could assume anything correctly.
"...I'll be honest, the idea of an arranged marriage is so crazy to me I'm not sure where to go with that. I mean- no. I couldn't imagine being married to someone my parents chose." Jake shuddered in a way Draco would feel it so close behind. "Nooooo."
Feeling the shudder he reached with his hand to grab Jake's. "My parents married out of love. Most though would have assumed their marriage had been arranged, but it wasn't. I hope that they will let me do the same." Draco replied.
"I've never heard anything positive out of an arranged marriage...not to mention those are old fashioned ways."
"I'm glad they did." Even if they were a bit extreme in their ways. With his chin still tucked on Draco's shoulder, he smirked and nipped the other's ear. "Alright hot shot, you're going to tap twice on the mousepad on top of that blue S icon. That's the icon for Skype. Just go tap-tap, real quick."
He gave a nod in agreement only to shudder slightly as Jake nipped his ear. No fair, taking advantage of him when he couldn't really retaliate. Fine. He went ahead and hit the S and then shifted slightly so that he could slip his hand up Jake's shirt to trace his fingers along his chest.
That got a shiver from Jake in return and he laughed by that pale ear. "Oh man, we won't get to talk to Jenn again at this rate." A teasing smile as he nudged a little as the program came up. "Here we go," he said quietly, "so this is Skype. These are all of my friends over here and this one - Jenn Autenberry - that's her. See the little green dot? That means she's online."
He reached around to open the chat window and typed a hello, you there? "Making sure she's at her computer though."
And a few moments later, a 'Hey, Jake!' Popped up. "Perfect! She is!"
"You started it," Draco pointed out with a sly smile. "We'll just finish later."
The whole concept of the program confused Draco, but with the examples, Draco was starting to see how it worked. It still confused him that they were able to talk to people all the way across the pond with this program and no magic was needed.
"So I did. Promise?" He grinned even more before he typed quickly, 'have a few minutes? Draco's here.'
'YES! Video!'
"Alright so... You click this big green button with an old style phone on it-" click, "and there we go! Now it's ringing her." Complete with noise.
Then a moment later it connected and thought before the camera light clicked on and the video popped open. There was the girl in the picture, smiling brightly. She was tanned, bright, and even though they didn't look alike, she and Jake both had that same smile. "Jake! And this must be Draco, hullo!" She waved them to them both.
"Camera is here," he pointed to the little dot at the top of the Mac, "if you want to look right at her on her screen."
He gave a nod in response and then watched as Jake proceeded to call his sister. Draco noted the same smile they shared. He followed Jake's instructions and gave a wave and a smile.
"Hello," Draco greeted. He sounded a bit hesitant as he tried to get used to everything. The hesitation wasn't toward meeting Jenn.
"He's cute!" Jenn teased and it was very obvious how close brother and sister were.
Jake laughed and winked comically. "As if anyone I'd date wouldn't be?"
Jenn stuck her tongue out before her eyes focused more on Draco. "It's really good to finally meet you even if it's online. Jake's been telling me all about you. He mentioned you want to come out here for University?"
Ug there was the word, cute. Granted, he could tell that they were teasing. "I think Lucky was the one who did the picking this time." Draco replied in a teasing tone.
"Yes, there's a good chance of me going there. My folks want to check the place out first before the final decision," Draco answered. "None of us have been across the pond before."
"Stop giving away my secret!" Jake said with a laugh. "He's right though. Dogs always know."
"That's because Lucky is the better of the two," Jenn teased her brother who cried 'Hey!' But she continued, "it's a shock at first, but it's not all that different once you get used to it. You just need to give the Americans a chance."
Jake turned his head and hid a yawn, then put his chin back where it had been.
Draco couldn't help but laugh at the banter. He couldn't help but bombard her with various questions. It was interesting to learn what the Muggles were like there verses here. He wanted to know if they were different from the witches and wizards.
"Is the culture really different?" From what he had heard from Melinda there were a bunch of differences...but how extreme he wanted to know.
Jenn would start talking about the little things - names of things, phrases, the way they did their schooling... Any little thing she could think of, happy to talk. She had a habit of twirling her hair around her finger, which was quiet long. Jake happily sat back, cup of tea in hand, just happily listening to his sister and... boyfriend? Talk to one another.
It seemed so simple even if it wasn't. Magic. Draco was magic and he wanted to know so much more about it.
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"We'll eventually figure out something. Did you want to introduce me to your sister today?"
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"Right, come on, let me show you off to Jenn. She should be up and about." He stood up, might have patted Draco's backside before he dashed to the bedroom, coming back with his laptop and putting it in front of Draco on the table.
"MacBook. Macs are a kind of computer- the white Apple is their logo." Tapping it on the back, but he nudged it a little. "Open her up."
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He glanced back at Jake with a skeptical look. "Are you sure you want to trust me with your computer?" He asked. He really didn't want to break it or mess it up.
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"First thing first, try typing 'luckyisadog'. No laughing at my password."
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He was a bright student, but this was foreign for him. It was going to take a while.
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He tapped the girl. "That's Jenn, by the way. She's five years older than me."
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Then Draco focused more on the icons, Jake was trying to explain. He felt they all looked the same to him. "Which one am I looking for?" he asked.
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He peered curiously for a moment. "Why is that typical with you? The age gap?"
He reached out and took Draco's hand, folding his fingers in except for his index finger, then put it lightly on the trackpad. "Try moving your finger around, this little arrow -" pointed it out, "will follow you. Try moving it over to the icon of the blue S."
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Draco let Jake guide his hand showing him how to use the trackpad. He purposely messed up as an excuse for Jake to help him enjoying the physical contact.
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"I'll admit though, I'm glad you're not the product of marrying cousins. That can't end well." He shook his head before chuckling. "I can't imagine how it could be kept so pure... I mean, people fall in love, don't they? Trysts and all that other stuff that happens between people."
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"Eh, there are strict rules we have to follow and an image that's expected of us. It used to be the thing back then...when my parents were in their prime. But now it's really not that big of a deal. It's been shown that being pure isn't all cracked up to be. At the most it just gives us more privileges. In order to keep going a lot of people starting marrying outside of the community and not just out of necessity but out of love too," Draco explained.
"But for families like mine...that's considered improper and as you can see my aunt as an example. I just think it's a bunch of b.s. Although, I know eventually my parents are going to try to arrange some kind of marriage that's expected of me, which I really don't want."
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"...I'll be honest, the idea of an arranged marriage is so crazy to me I'm not sure where to go with that. I mean- no. I couldn't imagine being married to someone my parents chose." Jake shuddered in a way Draco would feel it so close behind. "Nooooo."
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"I've never heard anything positive out of an arranged marriage...not to mention those are old fashioned ways."
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He reached around to open the chat window and typed a hello, you there? "Making sure she's at her computer though."
And a few moments later, a 'Hey, Jake!' Popped up. "Perfect! She is!"
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The whole concept of the program confused Draco, but with the examples, Draco was starting to see how it worked. It still confused him that they were able to talk to people all the way across the pond with this program and no magic was needed.
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'YES! Video!'
"Alright so... You click this big green button with an old style phone on it-" click, "and there we go! Now it's ringing her." Complete with noise.
Then a moment later it connected and thought before the camera light clicked on and the video popped open. There was the girl in the picture, smiling brightly. She was tanned, bright, and even though they didn't look alike, she and Jake both had that same smile. "Jake! And this must be Draco, hullo!" She waved them to them both.
"Camera is here," he pointed to the little dot at the top of the Mac, "if you want to look right at her on her screen."
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"Hello," Draco greeted. He sounded a bit hesitant as he tried to get used to everything. The hesitation wasn't toward meeting Jenn.
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Jake laughed and winked comically. "As if anyone I'd date wouldn't be?"
Jenn stuck her tongue out before her eyes focused more on Draco. "It's really good to finally meet you even if it's online. Jake's been telling me all about you. He mentioned you want to come out here for University?"
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"Yes, there's a good chance of me going there. My folks want to check the place out first before the final decision," Draco answered. "None of us have been across the pond before."
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"That's because Lucky is the better of the two," Jenn teased her brother who cried 'Hey!' But she continued, "it's a shock at first, but it's not all that different once you get used to it. You just need to give the Americans a chance."
Jake turned his head and hid a yawn, then put his chin back where it had been.
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"Is the culture really different?" From what he had heard from Melinda there were a bunch of differences...but how extreme he wanted to know.
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It seemed so simple even if it wasn't. Magic. Draco was magic and he wanted to know so much more about it.
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