Jae Jin & Kepler dialogue, a week after Always release day
Jin: So… they liked reading about us.
Kepler: They liked reading about you. The book's in your POV, Jin. Jin: They liked us. There is no us without you. You’re kinda necessary to the equation. Kepler: Hmm… you think I’m necessary? Jin: Pretty much. Kepler: I like that. Jin: Although I'd love to actually get a glimpse into that smarty-pants brain of yours from time to time. Kepler: Ah, yes. Is that what you want? Jin: Fuck, yes. Kepler: What would you want to know? Jin: Me? If I could know anything? Kepler: Yes. Jin: I’d want to know… Christ... Kepler: Go on. Jin: Don’t rush me, Quinn. I need to think. I want to know a hell of a fucking lot, and I don't want to pick the wrong thing. I need to start a spreadsheet or something. Kepler: A spreadsheet? Jin: Yep. A Kepler Quinn spreadsheet. Kepler: We could have a section for all your firsts. Jin: Why am I on your spreadsheet? Kepler: I have a feeling a lot of my spreadsheet would be about you. Jin: Not all. Kepler: No. But a lot. So, what would you know? Jin: When did you fall in head-over-heels love with me? Kepler: *laughs* Jin: Dude, why are you laughing? That’s a totally legit question. Kepler: It's also the one question that’s impossible to answer. I don’t know. It evolved. It grew out all those nights in the treehouse, you flicking your flashlight on the ceiling. Jin: What flashlight? Kepler: That little green one. You’d put black paper over it—making stars on the ceiling. Jin: Oh, shit. Yeah. Shin gave that to me for one of my birthdays. How do you remember that? Kepler: I just do. It was different back when we were kids, of course. How I felt about you, I mean. And when you started at the IFU, I would get these glimpses of you from across the Quad, and it was like something came to life. But it’s impossible to quantify exactly when. It was exponential growth, where the bigger the system is, the greater the increase. It was a curve, not a straight line. Jin: Okay… so when did this mysterious curve turn into you actually thinking the words? Kepler: That I love you? Jin: Yeah. Was it before I first said it? Kepler: Yes. Jin: When? Kepler: It’s not very exciting. Jin: It’s exciting to me. Spill it, Quinn. Kepler: It was a little moment. Jin: When? Kepler: We were in my Jeep. Jin: Not unusual. Kepler: I was driving, and I felt brave enough to reach over and brush my thumb over the very edge of your knee, where your jeans lay in a wrinkle. You looked at me and I felt that look. Bone deep and conclusively. And then the words just sprung into my head, and it was like they answered all the questions I'd ever asked myself about you. Jin: ... Kepler: Jin, you good? Jin: Fuck... I love you. Kepler: I love you. And you're looking at me in the same way right now. Jin: Hell, yes, I am. But that was it? Just a look? Kepler: Not just a look. But, yes. Jin: You make it sound so easy. Kepler: It was easy. Jin: When was that? Kepler: On the way to Rustic. Must have been around mile marker 323. Jin: You remember the mile marker? Kepler: Numbers burn themselves into my head. Jin: So, mile marker 323 up to Rustic. That must have been when we first visited Flora and Adelard. Kepler: Yes. Jin: We weren’t even there yet. Kepler: No, not yet. Jin: Before the yurt. Kepler: Before the yurt. Jin: And you just… fell in love with me. Right there. Driving along in your Jeep. Music playing and hand on my knee. On our first date. Kepler: Yes. Exactly. |