Wanna be my friend? [Spring 1994]

[Nicholas Kennedy]

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Jasper Mitchell

Nicolas had expected many things once he arrived at Salem. Alright so he really hadn't expected very much at all and as such he was just a tad bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of people that gathered at this one place. Not just any kind of people either, strangers. He was completely surrounded by people that he didn't know and some of them seemed to know him and want to talk to him just because of his name. A few people had found out his last name as soon as they first gathered to travel here and had refused to leave his side since, until he stopped talking to them. He didn't know them and he personally didn't want to talk to people who only wanted to talk to him because of who his parents were.

The first half of the year he had refused to speak to anyone, except the professors and his brothers when he saw them. He had walked around with at least one book clutched to his chest and eyes taking in every person that walked past him. He listened carefully to the professors when they called roll and put a name with each face in the classroom. This went on until winter break. Over break he had made up his mind that he would find a few people who didn't seem to swarm to him at the mention that he was related to the Kennedy family and try to talk to them. So true to the promise he made to himself when he arrived Nick took note of the people who didn't particularly care about his name.

After classes the first day back Nicolas made his move. He left his books in his dorm so that he wouldn't be tempted to pull them out and start reading to hide away from the world and made his way to the Student Parlor and looked around hoping the person he was searching for would be there.

[Jasper Mitchell]

Jasper was still amazed by Salem, his amusement never ending. It wasn't because of the classes or the teachers. No. It was the sounds. Everything about the world around him made everything better. He could hear people talk, whisper words to each other. He could hear his professors teach their lessons and note anything students said. No longer did he really feel bound by his handicap. That was, until someone tried to talk to him. He still couldn't speak, but that didn't bother him one bit.

Jas was trying to toss himself into music, especially since now he could hear it. Sure, understanding vibrations had helped him before, but now he could advance further. It was why the small boy was kneeling on a chair in the Parlor, trying to fix a broken string on his violin. His pet hedgehog was trying to eat one of the pegs, not caring it was made of metal and couldn't be eaten.

He was settled alone as his table, as most students tended to leave him alone and he tended to leave most students alone. There was just something about trying to talk to a student who couldn't talk that most Salem kids tried to avoid. Although some didn't mind and talked to Jasper regardless. But, although the Parlor did have a fair amount of people in it, the first year was still all by himself to restring his E string.

[Nicholas Kennedy]

There he was! Nicolas quickly made his way through the slightly crowded room and slipped into a seat across the table from Jasper. He watched the other work on restringing his violin and smiled to himself. It seemed that the two of them had something in common other than being first years. He cleared his throat just a little in hopes of gaining the other's attention and then allowed his gaze to fall to the table in front of him.

This was the first time in a very long time that he had actually made an effort to try and talk to someone other than his brothers. He didn't like strangers and this was a whole new thing for him. His eyes flicked up to the boy he was now sitting across from and then back down to the table. "Hi," he muttered.

[Jasper Mitchell]

Jasper was a little startled when he heard someone clear their throat. He just about jumped out of his seat in fright. He then noticed it was the youngest Kennedy. He believed his name was Nicolas. Jas had never really interacted with the kid before. Then again... He had never really interacted with many people before. So he wondered why the boy was sitting before him. But then the Lotus boy greeted him with a muttered 'hi.'

Jasper panicked a little, trying to search his bag for something. He then pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. He scribbled down "Hello" before passing the paper to the boy. He gave a smile and a wave hello, as if to emphasize that he was actually excited to talk to someone.

[Nicholas Kennedy]

Nicolas' eyes were focused intently on the table, but he looked up curiously when the boy across from him started rummaging through his bag. The twelve year old watched curiously as the boy pulled pen and paper out and then scribbled on it. The first thought through the boy's head, moments before the paper was pushed in front of him, was why hadn't Jasper replied back and quickly followed by he doesn't want to talk to me. Of course those thoughts flew out the window when he read the word on the paper and saw the other boy smile and wave.

He didn't mind that the boy hadn't spoken, but he was a little interested in why the boy hadn't spoken. "Why didn't you just say it?" he inquired as he pushed the paper back towards the boy, not sure if he would wind up writing out the answer.

[Jasper Mitchell]

Jasper couldn't help but frown a little when the question got asked, but he accepted the paper back. He chewed on the cap of his pen before he scribbled down on the paper. He didn't know how the boy would react to a full out explanation, so he went with a simple reasoning. He flipped the paper back around and pushed it back towards the boy with a wide smile on his face. The words "I can't" being the only words written under his greeting.

[Nicholas Kennedy]

Nicolas saw the frown that crossed Jasper's face when he asked the question and wondered if he had done something wrong. Maybe the other didn't want to tell him or maybe he was just over stepping some invisible line that he hadn't known existed. Nick didn't talk to people enough to know when it was alright and when it wasn't alright to ask questions, especially in such a social gathering thing like this. He was getting ready to tell the other that it was alright to just refuse to answer when the paper was flipped back towards him with two words written on it. When had he even wrote on the paper?

The child read the words with a small frown as he tried to understand. It wasn't that the words were hard it was the fact that the other couldn't speak. "Are you mute?" he inquired curiously, "or is it something else?" He didn't mind that the other boy couldn't reply by to him vocally. If he had to make sure to bring pen and paper every time he wanted to talk to Jasper then he would do it. The only thing that showed in the child's voice and body language was curiosity, but then again he had always wanted to know more than just the simple answer.

[Jasper Mitchell]

Jasper was actually a little excited that saying he couldn't talk didn't scare the boy off. So he retracted the paper, planning how to explain it. He settled on chewing on his bottom lip while staring at the paper. After a second, he reached up to his left ear and tugged off the hearing aid. He settled it on the table before scribbling on the paper.

"I'm deaf. So I never learned how to talk" the paper read as he flipped it back around for Nicolas to read. He settled the hearing aid on the paper. He had no problem if the other wanted to inspect the hearing aid. Jas was still extremely interested in figuring them out. After all. He wasn't hard of hearing. He couldn't hear period. And yet they allowed him to hear like he had been hearing since he was born.

[Nicholas Kennedy]

Nicolas watched curiously as the teen pulled something out of his ear and laid it down before writing on the paper. Brown eyes stayed locked on the little item that Jasper had laid on the table even as the paper was turned back towards him and the item moved. He was very curious about this little device. Immediately after it was laid on the paper he snatched it up and began to look it over, not even looking at the words on the paper yet. It wasn't very big, but he still turned it from side to side as if trying to figure it out. He turned it over to see if there was anything to the side he was holding before finally losing interest (or at least losing enough to pay attention to something else) and looked at the words on the paper.

"Deaf," he whispered in wonder before his gaze moved back to the piece that he still held in his hand. He held it out so that Jasper could put it back in and asked, "so that helps you hear things then?"

[Jasper Mitchell]

Jasper was quite interested in the way Nick observed the hearing aid. It was like he expected it to make noise or reveal something. It was slightly foolish and it made Jasp want to laugh. Obviously the boy before him had never met someone who was deaf before. Or else the other would have figured it to be a hearing aid. Not that it mattered to Jas if this boy figured it to be a hearing aid or not. He was just entertained by the boy observing the item until he finally read the piece of paper.

It finally sunk in to Nick that he was deaf. Jasper took back the hearing aid and put it back on his ear. He then nodded before grabbing the piece of paper. "Yup. They're magical hearing aids. I'm completely deaf so I wouldn't be able to hear with normal hearing aids. But these use magic to help me hear." The boy then flipped the paper back around and pushed it back to Nicolas to read.

[Nicholas Kennedy]

Nick couldn't really help that his parents had kept him away from people who were blind, deaf, and mute. They tried to fill his mind full of things about how the Kennedy's were better than everyone else, especially people with disabilities. Of course Nick didn't believe a word that came out of his parents' mouths because he couldn't see anything different between him and other people out there other than the amount of money and power they had. Just because he had found out that Jasper was deaf didn't mean he was going to turn and leave him be because of it. Actually Nick thought it was kind of cool. Anytime Jasper wanted to block people out all he had to do was take the little thing out of his ear. If Nick wanted to block people out he had to go through the trouble of telling them to leave him alone, not that that happened very often, but still.

He read the information that Jasper told...er wrote him quickly before blinking in surprise. "I didn't know that magic could do that," he said, "is there not like a potion or something you could take to just completely fix your hearing?"

His mind seemed to come up with another question so he sat up and little straighter and looked at Jasper with bright eyes. "Does this mean you know sign language?"

[Jasper Mitchell]

Jasper wanted to laugh at the first question. It was something he had heard before. The boy just shook his head. Nope. There was no potion he could take that would fix it. He flipped the paper around and wrote down quickly, "I was born without hearing. Nothing can really fix that." He flipped it around so Nick could then read it properly. It had never really bothered him that he couldn't hear. It was just life.

When Nicolas then asked the next question, Jasper's eyes lit up. He nodded. He then took to signing, "Of course." He signed, his lips moving to mimic what he signed. His lips forming the words 'of course' while he signed. "I can teach you, too. It's fun." He signed slowly, trying to also form the words with his lips slowly. He wondered if Nick was quick at picking up how to read lips. If the other boy didn't understand what he signed, it would just give Jasper something to laugh about.

[Nicholas Kennedy]

Nick thought it rather odd that magical folk made comments about how muggles couldn't do certain things and about how 'advanced' the magical world was compared to the muggle world and yet they still couldn't cure deaf-ness. Then again it wasn't like being deaf was a disease or something, it was just something that happened to some people. He read the words that written on the paper and nodded in understanding. "One would think that with all this magic around they could like fix it or something. I mean we're supposed to be better at all of this," he waved his hand around as if that made his point, "and yet we still don't have a potion to help people who are deaf and stuff."

The Lotus boy watched curiously as Jasper began signing things and when he couldn't understand the signing he watched the other's lips move. He wasn't the best lip reader and he would never claim to be, but after having to attend all of those social gatherings with his family he felt that he was descent enough at it. One could never be to careful when surrounded by people who only wanted to know you for your money, better to be able to tell what they were saying when they were far off rather than close by. "You'd teach me?" he repeated to make sure he had read the dude's lips correctly, "seriously?"

[Jasper Mitchell]

Jasper was quite intrigued as Nick spoke, wanting to laugh at the words. He nodded along, showing he agreed. He was surprised they couldn't fix it either. But they couldn't help people who were mute or blind. Nah. Blind people could learn to see through special ability but it still wasn't a cure. So it was foolish, just as the other boy happened to point out.

Jas was quite excited when he learned that the other was a quick learner at reading lips. He nodded and signed slowly once more, his lips moving along as he signed. "I can teach you anything you want to know. My name is Jasper. J-A-S-P-E-R." He used the sign for his name, which was treasure holder. It was the use of treasure and to hold something. Not that Nicolas would understand. Then he slowly signed his name out using the alphabet.

[Nicholas Kennedy]

Nick wasn't the least bit bothered by the fact that Jasper couldn't actually say anything to prove that he was listening to what he was saying. He could see the movements that the deaf boy made and that was enough for Nick to know that his words were understood and hadn't been blocked out by the other. Heck Jasper even seemed to be agreeing with what he was saying.

It took him a moment to understand what Jasper was saying and he had to repeat the lip movements himself as he thought it over in his mind because really somethings just didn't make sense. "Alright since I think you just spelled out your name I'm pretty sure you didn't just say something about a man peach and want to low I will guess you just said you could teach me anything I want to know."

"Perhaps we could start with the basics so that I can at least spell the words out," he suggested looking excited at the prospect of learning a new language.

[Jasper Mitchell]

Jasper's laugh was silent. He never really did make noise when he laughed, something his siblings found hilarious for some reason or another. He probably could sign anything and it would go right over the other kid's head. It was hysterical. All his family could sign so he couldn't get away with anything. But he wasn't about to abuse this, the fact the other didn't know what he was saying.

Jasper nodded. "I will show you the alphabet." His lips moved as he signed slowly, mouthing the words slowly. He'd let the other try and figure it out before he continued. But after a minute, grabbed the piece of parchment and scribbled 'alphabet' on it before signing "a".

[Nicholas Kennedy]

Nicholas watched as Jasper signed and moved his lips along with the words. It didn't take him long to figure out what the other male was saying. His eyes followed the parchment as Jasper grabbed it and he watched quietly as the deaf boy scribbled something out on it. Brown eyes quickly saw the word alphabet before the boy across from him held up his hand to sign "a".

Nick held up his own hand and placed it in the same symbol. "Like this?" he asked, though he believed that it looked the same as the other boy's hand.

[Jasper Mitchell]

Jasper couldn't help but smile brightly when Nick copied the symbol. He watched the other's lips as he questioned if he was doing it right. The boy just nodded, his smile never faltering. He then moved his hand once more to show how to sign the letter b. He had a lot of time to teach the other the alpabet. That and it was fun. It wasn't every day that he got to have a conversation with someone. Usually people just avoided him like the plague.

[Nicholas Kennedy]

A grin spread over Nick's face when Jasper nodded that he was doing it correctly. If all of the letters were this easy then he didn't think he'd have to hard a time learning the alphabet. He watched as the next letter was held up and copied the hand movement. "Are all the letters this simple?" he asked with a small tilt of his head.

[Jasper Mitchell]

Jasper grinned when the other once again copied the symbol perfectly. He wanted to laugh at the question. He nodded as if to say 'yes'. It was a shame they were easy, but actual symbols outside the alphabet were harder. He signed the next letter to the alphabet while thinking up how to sign Nick's name. He waited until Nick signed the sign before signing quickly, pointing at Nick. His lips moved as if to say 'you' and then he quickly signed happy. He couldn't help but smile. He was proud of himself. He couldn't think of another name. Others just seemed insulting. He then reached for the paper and wrote on it. 'That is your name. It is laugh.' He then rested the writing utensil down to sign the word once more for Nicholas to see.

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[Nicholas Kennedy]

When Jasper assured him that they were all this easy Nick wanted to laugh a little. It was nice to know that they were this easy. It meant that he'd have the alphabet down in a couple weeks instead of it taking a really long period of time. The boy copied the next sign when it was shown to him, but quickly became confused when the other boy started signing things he didn't understand. He was still confused about how the signing was him. His attention moved to the paper when Jasper took it and wrote out that what he'd just signed was his name. "So you're going to call me laugh?" he asked, wanting to make sure he understood what the other teen was trying to explain to him.

[Jasper Mitchell]

Jasper was pretty sure that he could ask his mother to owl him sign language books for Nick. It would be easy for the other boy to pick everything up quicker that way. Jasper didn't know if he would be able to meet with the Lotus boy every day to help him. So a substitute would be good for those days when life was busy and they were busy.

Jas nodded furiously when Nick asked if that was what he was going to call. Jasper knew he couldn't explain things through sign so he grabbed the paper and and began to write down the explanation. When done, he passed it back over.

You smile and laugh a lot. It is a good sign name for you. It is fitting. Sign names are given by deaf people to hearing, a single word is better then spelling out your name every time.

[Nicholas Kennedy]

Nicholas was glad that he could figure out what the other was talking about, but he didn't understand why he had to get a new name. Was Nick not a good one? His thoughts were cut off when Jasper grabbed the paper and started writing out the explanation. Oh...well that made sense.

"How will I know when you're talking to me and when you're just talking about laughing?" he asked with a small confused pout. It would be awkward if Jasper was just talking about laughing and he started asking him what he wanted.

[Jasper Mitchell]

Jasper wanted to laugh at the question and smiled. He began to sign when he paused. The other wasn't going to understand him if he began to just sign randomly without notice. So he grabbed the parchment and began to scribble once more.

You'll know. If you would like, how about I change it to this.

He waited till the other turned his attention back to him before signing laugh once more. But this time, he used his thumbs instead of his index finger. It lost the meaning it once held. However, if it made the other feel better about knowing that it was him, then losing the meaning would be alright with him. He pointed to himself and tapped his right ear twice with his index finger.

[Nicholas Kennedy]

Nicholas frowned a little when Jasper began to sign. He didn't have a clue what the other was saying, but lucky for him Jasper realized that before he'd said very much. Brown eyes glanced down at the parchment as his new friend scribbled something down on it. He trusted the words, that he would know when the other boy was talking to him. He glanced up to see the other teen doing the sign for his name again only with different fingers. "No, no," he said shaking his head lightly, "no need to change the meaning of the word. I'm sure I'll know when you're talking to me. Just like you said."

He watched as Jasper did another sign. "That's your name?" he asked wanting to make sure he understood what the other was telling him.