Dorms Gym - Tuesday Morning

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

The details of the weekend were fresh in Jack's mind. The details of his life as this older guy, a politician, were hazy. Every time he tried to think about the faces and names and details he'd known on the weekend, they slipped away. He'd spent yesterday trying to write everything down. The result was four and a half pages of snatches of memories that weren't really his and garbled messages to himself about a life he found himself forgetting. Forgetting bothered him. Jack realized that forgetting bothered him more than the fact that Fandom had changed him in the first place. This freakish island was getting to him.

There was only one thing to do.

"Four," Jack counted through gritted teeth as he pulled himself up so that his chin was level with the bar he was holding on to. He lowered himself back down and then up again. "Five." The gym was a perfect way of not dealing with the situation.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

Bobby didn't know what to do with this weekend. It wasn't that any of it was bad - just weird.

He wandered into the gym in search of Jack because that was what Bobby did when he didn't know what to do with things (and of everything that happened this weekend, he was kind of most glad that the older him still had the same instinct). Sinking down onto one of the weight benches, Bobby watched the pull up session with interest. "Bet you can't do thirty," he offered finally.

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

Jack had long given up being surprised to see Bobby show up when he didn't expect him. "Probably not," Jack replied. His legs were crossed at the ankle, barely dangling off the ground when he lowered himself. "Eleven."

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

"Don't you think you should be able to?" he asked. "Thirty isn't that many."

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"Thirteen." Jack's shoulders were burning already because his form wasn't exactly right. His arms were fatiguing, as expected, and he knew that anything past twenty was lucky. "Says you."

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

"But you only have to do twenty for the Marines' physical fitness test," Bobby explained. "To get a hundred percent. So you're on track, you know?"

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

Jack stopped mid-pull and let go of the bar. He landed soundly and put his hands on his hips while he caught his breath. "On track for what exactly?"

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

"Um, I looked it up online? I mean, I know it's just a possible future and stuff, but it's good to know what you'd have to do," he replied. "But Mom would flip out, you know."

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

Shaking his head, Jack walked over and picked up his water bottle. "You take this place too seriously."

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

Bobby shrugged and surprised himself by easily jumping up to grab hold of the pull up bar. "Like you didn't think about it."

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"Think about it, Bobby. Marines? Law school? Can you seriously imagine me becoming a politician?"

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

"Yes," he said simply as he hauled his chin up over the bar.

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

That wasn't helping. Jack took a drink. "I can't," he said in between sips. "That's the end of it. Don't let your arms hang when you come down or you'll tire out too easily."

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

"That doesn't make sense," Bobby argued - even though he was doing what Jack said. "If I let my arms hang, all my weight'll be on my skeletal structure and not my muscles. Shouldn't it give me a rest?"

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"It's about control, Bobby. It takes more effort to start over every time than it does to move back and forth while keeping control. Wait. You're not seriously considering becoming a priest."

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

Shrugging while doing a pull up was hard. "Mom would flip out."

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"If you haven't realized it yet, I have news for you. Mom's going to flip out no matter what you do unless it's exactly what she tells you to do."

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

"That's not true!" he argued, breathing hard as he dropped down off the bar. "She wouldn't tell us what to do. She wants us to be happy."

Hey, look, he almost even believed it.

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"She wants us to be happy doing what she thinks we should do. There's a difference."

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

Bobby looked hopeful as he held out his hands for the water bottle. "If you became a Congressman, I bet Mom would help you raise money for your campaigns and stuff."

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"Mom would be the reason I wouldn't become a Congressman. She'd never be able to turn down a chance to tell everyone her opinion." He held out the bottle.

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

"So you could picture it," Bobby said quickly before Jack could either interrupt or grab the bottle back. "I think you'd be really good."

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

Jack rolled his eyes. He'd walked straight into that one. "I don't want to talk about it."

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

He really had. Right through the big blinking sign marked 'Bobby wants to tell you what he thinks.'

"Why not?" he asked, apparently unable to listen to Jack on this one. He set the water bottle back by Jack and went around the bench to the mats to try to see if he could do a lot of sit ups.

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

His tone became serious. "Because I'm not that guy? Because maybe I don't want to be and no amount of pushing from this place can make me."

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

"I don't think it's pushing," Bobby said after a moment of thought. "Just kind of - showing. To make us think about it. You know?"