[PRP] Regrets Collect Like Old Friends (Chance & Finn)

[Seussi]

He genuinely didn't understand. He believed Chance when he said he didn't feel anything overly romantic towards either of them. What he couldn't believe was that that other man was actually really torn up about this, when in previous instances he seemed to be a rather level headed and laid back sort of guy. Finn wanted to get to the bottom of this, and he felt like there might be more to uncover there that hadn't yet been exposed.

Again, Finn's lips pressed into a firm line. "I may have underestimated my own capacity for coming to care about somebody on the level I have with him, I'll admit. But the rules never changed, and if I had felt that I had needed them to, if I thought that I needed him to be faithful to me and only me, I would have told him that. I'm honestly disappointed in you, Chance, that you would think of me as such a petty man, that you would think that I, of all ******** people, would honestly give enough of a s**t to actually be angry over this." He shifted, and stood up, giving his head a small shake.

"You were, clearly, a mistake. Just one of many I've made in my lifetime, but not one I'll make again."

kuuropiix

 

[kuropeco]

Something clicked.

Maybe it was because of the word mistake. Or maybe it was just because this was not Chance, this was not how he was, and lately he'd been falling deeper and deeper into mistakes that seemed terribly uncharacteristic of him. Being here on Deus was supposed to have been just another facet of his life, not some reality television show.

Or maybe he was just finally starting to realize that he wasn't like he was trying to be.

An unexpected smile blossomed across Chance's face.

"You," he said lightly. "are completely right. Good ******** grief, listen to me, I sound ridiculous."

He reached out, clapped a hand onto Finn's shoulder, and smirked up at him.

"I'm ******** acting like a princess, thanks for fixing that for me. I thought maybe I could be different, but, well," he shrugged, the gesture trademark Chance, rolling off of his shoulders with ease as his fingers slid away. It was clear that whatever he'd been thinking before, whatever doubts he'd considered, were gone, replaced by the usual relaxed and uncaring, unfeeling Chance Bones that Finn had first met. "Jeez. What a ******** ridiculous scenario I'm in right now, ******** Finn, sorry for going all crazy on you."

seussi

 

[Seussi]

The complete one eighty that Chance spun on then was a surprise. A huge surprise, honestly, given that moments before he'd seemed incredibly bent out of shape and hung up over all of this. He wasn't sure if it had been something he said, if something had finally gotten through the other man's thick skull, or if this was just a cover-up, an act to hide how he truly felt.

Either way, it was a ******** improvement that Finn would take over the previous ******** of a mess that it had been before.

He was silent for a time, accepting the pat on his shoulder with an internal grimace, wanting to shrug the touch away in indignation (though that was now slowly ebbing away into more of a simmering annoyance). Soon the hand was gone, however, and he was being faced with an apology, and all the while Finn watched him, carefully, searching for any hint that this was, in fact, a trick.

But it didn't appear to be one.

"You've got to be ******** kidding me." He turned, facing the other man, "All of that unnecessary drama and now you've just turned it off again? I mean, thank ********>, because I wasn't sure I could stand you if you were like this all the ******** time but, jesus, are you on your rag or something? Do I need to take you to the infirmary for your emotional whiplash?"

By the end, he was smiling, cold, but his tone seemed good natured enough, and less flat then before.

kuuropii

holy s**t a tag

 

[kuropeco]

Chance rubbed a hand over his face.

"I think the lack of sleep is finally getting to me," he said with a laugh, and there was nothing in his tone to suggest that it was disingenuous. Everything was back to Normal Chance, and any signs of Anxiety Chance were completely gone, wiped away to be replaced by his usual laid back self.

"I swear I'm not usually this ******** up," he said, smiling ruefully up at Finn. "This ******** insomnia is killer, I swear to ********. That, combined with a serious set of unwanted drama and s**t, and a penchant for snacking on power bars instead of actual meals has probably resulted in this ridiculous and admittedly regrettable tangent."

Finn's smile was still cold, but at least this time it was a familiar coldness, not the icy tension filled expression from before. Chance felt himself relaxing at this reassurance.

"Maybe I forgot to take my Midol," he deadpanned.

seussi

/LE GASP

 

[Seussi]

"Well, okay, fine, I guess I can accept that, and your apology as well. Just don't make a ******** habit of s**t like this, okay?" He paused then, reaching up to rub a forefinger and thumb across his eye and eyepatch both, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a sigh.

"Look." He opened his eye again. "While I don't appreciate this bullshit, I guess it is somewhat understandable. I mean, I thought I made it pretty clear that I didn't care who Ripley ********, or got ******** by, but I guess...you just never know, right? I might have been lying. I know..." He stopped again, and took a deep breath before continuing. "I know that if I thought about it long enough, if I ran through the details of it in my mind, if I actually pictured it happening with you, especially when...." It should have been me he was with that night. It should have been, but I ******** it up.

"...I finally just accepted that I care about him more than i was willing to let on, even to myself. Then yes. Yes I could actually be bothered, maybe even jealous, but I just don't think I have a reason to be. I don't think." He looked Chance hard in the eye, then. "It's going to change anything."

No. Ripley wanted to be with Finn. He wouldn't have come back if he didn't. They were together, they were, by some ******** miracle, happy to be together. There was just no reason to be upset or pissed over this.

"So. We're good?" He asked.

kuuropii

 

[kuropeco]

He lifted both hands in a gesture of submission.

"No ******** way in hell," Chance reassured him. "Seriously. My head may have been ******** up for a bit, but I'm good now, swear it. And you know me - well, you at least know I'm not a liar, never have been."

He dropped his hands and pushed them into his pockets, brows arching a little as Finn kept talking. There had been the general assumption that Finn had been right, and therefore they were done - but at least the explanation that followed was something that Chance himself already knew.

He shook his head and smiled slightly. "It won't change anything," he replied, in a tone that suggested complete and utter faith in this sentence. "It wasn't supposed to in the first place, and it won't now."

Chance reached out and patted Finn consolingly on the arm.

"We're good," he said lightly. "And...thanks."

Then, before things could get any more serious and sappy, since neither of them probably wanted it that way, he added, with a slight smirk, "I'll buy you some good booze later to make up for this s**t."

But there was a certain amount of relief to his tone that he couldn't quite hide entirely.

seussi

 

[Seussi]

"Good. ******** good." He gave his head a small shake, as if clearing it of the few, more fluffy thoughts he was having about his...not boyfriend sort of boyfriend. "Glad you've got your act back together, idiot." The last was said with more a grin.

"And it better not be some cheap s**t, either." Of course if he was going to be getting booze out of this, he wasn't going to say no.

"Anyways, I think that about covers it. And, well, I guess Ripley doesn't really need to know about any of this." He reached up to scratch at his chin, musing. "Since nothing has changed and all. I know he likely wouldn't have been too happy about losing your friendship over this."

kuuropii

 

[kuropeco]

"Me too," said Chance wryly, and then laughed. "Do I look like I would chance getting you cheap s**t? No way, a*****e, I'll get you the good stuff, cheap beer tastes like balls and not in a good way."

He grinned cheekily at Finn. "Your secret is safe with me, lover boy," said Chance, just to be obnoxious, and patted the other man's shoulder for good measure.

"I like Ripley, and I like you, and I like the two of you being whatever the ******** you are together, so I'm perfectly content with keeping things the way they are."

seussi