fandomhigh | Sex, Dating and Self-Confidence [Tuesday, Period 2]

"Good morning, darlings," Irene greeted the class cheerfully, perched as usual on the edge of her desk. There was, however, a TV and a DVD player in the room today, which was maybe a clue as to what sort of a day it was going to be.

"Today, I had planned for us to talk about fetishes, but I think that's going to be rolled into safety next week." So sorry that you guys have to wait a whole week for that incredibly uncomfortable talk!

"Instead, we're going to watch a movie," she told them, in case the dimmer ones hadn't figured that bit out yet. "But first!" She grabbed her question box, next to the bowl of condoms like usual, but unlike usual, Irene actually drew a slip of paper out of the box and unfolded it. "We have a question to answer, boys and girls."

She cleared her throat, then crisply read out, "During last weekend when I didn't remember who I was, I made out with one person and hooked up with another all thanks to the same party. Can I get extra credit for being so good with the flirting and self-confidence thing even when I have amnesia?"

Yep. The question box was, as promised, totally anonymous. No idea who could have possibly written that, nope.

Irene dropped the paper down into her lap, and tilted her head at the class. "What an excellent question. Now, I would be absolutely delighted to grant this fantastically confident young man or woman," and she knew perfectly well who it was, "extra credit, but tragically, by its very nature, our question box here is strictly anonymous, so any granting of extra credit would be wholly impossible, since I don't know who wrote this."

She shrugged, very sadly. "So I guess whoever this is will just have to be proud of him or herself without extra credit. But good job! And sorry about the amnesia."

With that taken care of, Irene popped up off her desk to press a button on the DVD player. "This film really plays more into the self-confidence portion of our class later on, but I do hope that you'll their depiction of sex ed."

She paused, glancing up, and added, "Or at least realize how much worse it could be than having to deal with me trying to explain why dental dams are useful, anyway. In any case, try to stay awake, and pay attention to the social interaction in the film -- what goes wrong, and why, and what lessons can we draw from it? If you've seen it before, do try not to spoil any of it, and if you must quote along, do so quietly."

She'd seen this before, yes. She knew how deeply quotable it was.

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Eleanor was only half paying attention to the movie. She was tired, and she didn't want to think about sexual activity or education today. Bad enough Joker would be here, which would make it harder to continue avoiding him.

Especially since he made sure to get the seat next to her.

"Are you avoiding me?" he whispered, after the movie had started. "Because I really don't want to think that you're avoiding me. Are you holding up okay?"

"I'm fine," Eleanor lied, not taking her eyes off the screen. "Couldn't be better. How's your hand?"

"Right. You're fine, now. One night of passion and all the trauma's just disappeared. That certainly sounds healthy to me!" Joker held his hand out for her to see and waggled his fingers. "Hand's fine. Good as new. Better than new. I'm sorry I was such a dick in Anders's room."

"My trauma is an ongoing matter," Eleanor said. "This wasn't the first I'd seen Rapture, you know. I'm not as surprised and abruptly thrown into trauma as you lot, so I'm coping with it better."

Clearly.

"And you were high, and thus not yourself."

"The thing is -- and, really, I feel maybe I've said this before, once, or twice, or ten thousand times -- you faced things there that the rest of us didn't. And you're not okay. But more importantly, you're not alone and I'm not going anywhere. So just stop with the whole running-away thing, 'kay? It's kinda scary, and starting to get old."

"So it's both scary and boring," she noted, dryly. Hey, he wasn't the only one who could be flippant as a defensive measure. "I told you I wasn't good at people, when we started this."

"No, not getting old as in 'boring', getting old as in 'frustrating'," Joker clarified. "You don't have to be 'good at' anything. Just... don't run away. I'm very good at being comforting."

"I don't need comfort," Eleanor lied. "Besides, that ended badly, last time."

His hand, if he wasn't keeping track.

"So don't break my hand next time," Joker told her easily. "Or, we can just... not go that far, if that's what's worrying you. You tell me ahead of time no funny business, and I'll stick to it -- I promise."

He sighed. "Okay, look." He reached down and pulled out of his bag a rock, with a face painted on it and a hat woven out of pipe cleaners. "This is Rocket. He's not much for cuddling, but he'll keep you company and tell you everything's okay. ...And tell you to shake that ass, 'cause it's smokin' hot, but if he mouths off you can just smack him around."

It was a rock. It was just a rock. But if she wasn't letting anyone in... maybe it was something?

So she was doing really well at blocking things out, and then he offered her a rock with pipe cleaners on it, and why did that make her feel like crying?

"I ..."

And why was she hesitating at accepting him?

It. The rock.

Okay... so now she was on the verge of a breakdown, which... well, all things considered, that was probably a good thing. But she'd probably rather save that until after class.

Joker set the rock down on her desk. "It's okay. You don't have to talk. Say hello, Rocket."

He waggled the rock a little, and said in a higher register, "Hey, Hot Stuff! Dude wasn't kidding about that ass, was he?"

Sex, Dating and Self-Confidence [Tuesday, Period 2]

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