"I haven't slept a wink and I'm in a bit of a shit mood, but I'm ready to start this bitch." Wes said quickly when he opened the door for Jackson early the next morning, ushering him in. "I just want to do a little poking around, nothing major. I don't want to go deep until I'm sure I won't-" He closed the door to walk briskly to where the thickest of the books from yesterday sat on the coffee table, picking it up to flip through the page. He stopped at one. "-'insert the psych into a part of the locks own that can not be navigated backward.'" He dropped the book to stare at Jackson with bloodshot eyes. "You know I could literally go into your head and get lost in there forever?"

"I've heard that, yes." Jackson said slowly as he sat on the couch, clasping his hands in his lap. "But it's highly, highly unlikely."

"Uh, not that unlikely," Wes shot back, his eyes widening. "There's a madhouse full of keys that got stuck in a lock's head upstate, completely trapped and just - just vegetables!" Wes said with a wild flung of his arm.

"And there are bases in every state full of locks without keys, slowly descending into complete madness," Jackson said cooly, holding Wes's gaze. "Trust me, you won't get lost, and if you do, I will help guide you back out." Wes frowned at him, but Jackson continued. "If you dug a little harder, you'd find out the only keys that get stuck in a lock's mind are the ones that a lock has personally led there and left there." 

Wes slowly closed his book, holding it in one hand before he took a careful step back to press his back against the wall. He stared meaningfully at Jackson. "Book says not to trust you." He said shortly.

"The book is right to everyone else besides me. I would never let you get trapped." Wes gave him a look that suggested he didn't believe him, so Jackson added "It wouldn't benefit me to have you lost, Wes." He said, softer this time, though a lot more firm. "Why would I ever bring harm to something I spent so much time searching for."

Wes frowned but nodded with a roll of his eyes. "Alright...yeah. I believe you, but fair warning-" He pointed a finger at him. "I get stuck up in there, and I'll drive you way crazier than you are now, you got that?" At Jackson's firm nod, Wes dropped his hand and licked his lips. "Alright...I'm just going to poke in," He tossed his book loudly to the table, "-get a feel for the space inside your head, and then that's it. Tomorrow we'll go deeper if today works out and just, fucking go from there." He finished with a mumble. Jackson nodded and Wes nodded at that. "Let's do this."

At the sound of the couple in the apartment next to him starting up their usual morning routine of screaming at each other, Wes went over and pounded on the wall above his kitchen sink, screaming through it for them to shut up, which started a screaming match between the two apartments that only ended twenty minutes later when the couple next door both had to go to work.

Wes turned back to Jackson like nothing had happened and went to sit down next to him on the couch. "Alrighty...ready?"

Jackson's eye flashed with excitement and he grinned wide before he nodded eagerly. Wes thought it made the older man look much younger, childlike, almost.

Wes chuckled and patted Jackson on the cheek. "Just like a little kid." He cooed before he leaned back against one arm of the couch, closing his eyes to relax. He crossed his arms over his chest and shook out his body before he forced himself to relax again.

He focused on the hurricane that was Jackson and slowly allowed his mind to approach it, let it suck him in. Closer, closer, closer until he had breached the outer wall.

It was a very strange sensation, akin to a muscle that hadn’t been used in a very long time.

And in truth, he hadn’t used his skill in a very, very long time. The last time he had been seventeen and taking his final exam to graduate the Key program he had been required to take. After that, he had put it away and pretty much ignored it entirely. 

He'd only really, truly used it once - actually penetrated another mind, stuck his own right through the cloud of thought of someone else, but besides that and the little bit of prodding at the exit exam and the key program, he hadn't used it at all.

But even if he did, he didn't think it could prepare him for this.

Jackson's mind wasn't like the others. 

The other two minds he had poked around in belonged to average young men, minds that were as easy to walk through as fog, and on both occasions, he got physically sick.

Jackson's was like going up a very tall roller coaster, or like standing on a carpet that was slowly dragging you along....

Or most accurately, like a vacuum was sucking you in. It was frightening and unnerving, but the books said that there was always a degree of pull from locks, though none described it as being anywhere near as overwhelmingly strong as this. 

He sighed as he got a feel for his surroundings, the sensation of being just past the outer walls of Jackson's mind, he felt-

His stomach lurched.

"I don't feel good-" Wes blurted before opened his eyes and rolled off the couch to run to the kitchen, bending over the sink to dry heave into it. Jackson was behind him in an instant, a hand on Wes's back and an anxious look on his face. Wes fought against it for a few minutes before he finally vomited. 

When he was finished he rinsed out his mouth, and half hanging over the sink, he looked back to Jackson. "T-that wasn't so bad." He half gasped, swallowing thickly, his face screwing up. "Kind of reminded me of the first time I got wasted...if I can get used to that, I-get used to think, I think."

Jackson seemed to relax at this and gave him a little smile, nodding. "Thank you, Wes."

Wes gave him a smile, "I didn't even do anything yet." He said with a laugh.

"But you're trying...so thank you." Jackson said, gripping the back of Wes's neck gently, saying again "Thank you."

Wes nodded a little and returned to face the sink, rinsing out his mouth again before he took a long drink. When he didn't feel sick anymore he dragged himself over to the couch to lay down on it. He held a hand to his stomach, wincing. "So," He paused as Jackson came to slowly sit on the floor next to the couch, listening. Wes turned his head to look at him. "I'm going to some sleep, and I think tomorrow I'll be ready to push forward and get some real work done. that shit wasn't nearly as hard as everyone makes it out to be." He said with a scoff, taking a hand off of his stomach to hold it behind his head. "I can do this."

"Maybe somewhere else." Jackson said lightly, Wes's eyes narrowing at him. "I think it'll be easier to concentrate if we're somewhere quieter. Most of the time, when Keys and Locks start their bond, they do so in complete isolation from the rest of the world."

Wes grinned slyly at him, "I'm skilled enough to do it wherever I want." He said, his stomach tightening enough that he felt the need to press his hand further against it. When that didn't help, he rolled onto his side and curled into his stomach to shove his face into the back of the couch, groaning.

"From now on, when we work on our bond, let's do it at my apartment. It's not far from here."

Wes rolled right back over to face him. "I thought you lived on the base?!" Wes demanded, half sitting up.

"Officially I do," Jackson said carefully, "I have to check in either the morning or the night, so....but once we seal our bond, I won't have to do that anymore. But my family owns an apartment here that I've stayed in whenever I was allowed off the base...it can be very unpleasant at the base, sometimes."

Wes gave him a suspicious look before he nodded and settled back down onto the couch. He watched as Jackson slowly stood to tower over him, looking down at him with those wild, bright eyes.

"What have you eaten today?"

"A shit load of vodka. And some fruit snacks." He finished lamely, closing his eyes.

"Maybe that's why you vomited - I'll make you something better to eat."

"The last thing I want to do is eat right now, man."

"Just something to settle your stomach. It'll help. Trust me." Jackson said in his usual short, clipped tone.

Wes grunted and screwed his eyes shut to twist on the couch, "Yeah, whatever." He said in a similar tone. When he heard Jackson moving around in the kitchen he cracked open an eye to watch the other man.

It felt different now.

There was a very weak tether that bonded them together, a string that could easily fall apart, something temporary. But if they built on it, he knew it'd be something neither of them could ever sever.

It wasn't bad now, wasn't as bad as he had thought it might be. He didn't feel...weighed down, like he thought he would.

Felt very natural, kind of beautiful, in a strange way. Made him want to make it deeper, made him want to try again.

He tugged a little on the string, and the puppet looked back at him.

Wes grinned at him.