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Finn leveled Ripley with the absolute flattest stare he could must.

"You know what." He said, with a roll of his eye, pushing himself off of the doorway and strolling into the bathroom.

He didn't feel like standing around waiting for an answer when he could be washing away all of the filth from their previous nights (and very very early that mornings) dirty acts.

Eventually Finn emerged from the shower, a towel tied around his waist and another raised up with two hands to scrub out the dampness in his hair. His eyepatch had been removed, and it dangled from around his wrist.

Moving back to the bed and flopping into it with a sigh, he closed his eye. He was tired, finally, and was thinking that another hour or two of sleep would not be such a bad thing.

But one other matter needed to be dealt with first.

He peeked over at Ripley, unsure if the other man was still awake.

And then he laid into him with a hard elbow into the arm just to make sure.

"Either admit that you're afraid, or say yes. I'm not letting this go until you do one or the other." And Finn was nothing if not a very, very stubborn man, which Ripley damn well knew.

"And by the way, if you do say yes, there are some things that would have to change." A very pleasant smile was used at that. "But I wont tell you what."

Now, surely, the other man would admit defeat.

This man was incredibly frustrating. Incredibly, irritatingly, horribly frustrating and irrevocably stubborn. There were times when Finn wondered just what he was doing, what they were doing, how this was possibly working between the two of them.

And yet it was. It was working, and he was, in his way, happy with the fact that it was working. He enjoyed the time that he spent with Ripley, even now, in a place where they had spent an entire day together, and even while Finn was being as obnoxious as humanly possible over a ridiculous concept that neither of them seemed to believe in. It was still working, and he saw no reason why it should stop working.

Interesting to think about, but not at all helpful in their current predicament.

Finn smiled in that oh so pleasant way of his. "I can tell you that it won't change anything from our current arrangement? How's that?"

"Yes or no. I just need a definite answer, Ripples." Though what remained unspoken was that at this point, he simply wanted to know just how far this fear of commitment ran with the other man. An adjustment to their arrangement here, a restructuring of his offer there. He already knew now that Ripley would refuse if it meant that any of their current rules that had been set in place changed. He still wanted freedom of a sort, and a choice to end it without hard feelings on either side.

But to Finn, ending it was an option available to any kind of relationship, whether or not hard feelings were involved. Freedom to be with other people was a choice anybody could make, the only difference with them is that they were both aware of the option, aware and given permission to do just that, again without the mess of feelings being involved.

"Just an answer, Ripley." His real name used this time. "And I swear that will be the end of it. I'll leave you alone so that you can sleep, and I'll never even bring it up again." He made a crossing over his heart motion, still smiling, though with a touch of amusement in his voice now.

If Ripley had asked, Finn probably could have eased his mind about at least one of his worries. A no wouldn't have meant much, in the eyes of a man who knew that what they had was an incredibly unstable ground to lay a foundation for an actual marriage on, let alone a completely insincere one. Nothing would change, because there were no hopes or dreams being shattered in this situation. Finn liked what he had with Ripley just as it was. This conversation had almost been like a test, a chance to get to know the other man just a little bit better, because there were times that Finn still felt like Ripley was a complete stranger to him, no matter how many stories of their past that they shared. The man was very closed off, private, quiet....it was often difficult to know just what he was thinking or how he felt.

And now, Finn knew. Or at least, he knew just a little bit more than he had previously. It didn't bother him that the answer was no, because it was finally an answer. There were parts of him that wanted to call him out on it, to smirk and tell him that he was a total chicken s**t just as Finn suspected, but he didn't. He had promised that, with an answer, the entire matter would be dropped, and he planned to adhere to that.

So instead, he let out a sigh, but it was one of relief more than one of disappointment, and he rubbed at his eye, which was heavy with a need for just a little more sleep.

The apologetic kiss wasn't necessarily needed, because Finn didn't feel like Ripley needed to apologize for anything. Unecessary, but not at all unwelcome as Finn leaned into it, a hand sliding to the back of the other mans head briefly, a bare touch.

And then it was over.

"For the record, I like things just how they are too." With that, he cracked a long and loud yawn. <********. Look what you did, keeping me up half the damn night. a*****e."

Finn laughed, though it was punctuated by a second yawn. Just how little sleep had he gotten? He hadn't ever at any point actually bothered to check the time.

The moment his mouth was opened at it's widest was when the pillow smacked him full in the face, and he let out a startled and somewhat disgruntled sound, grabbing at it with his hands and pulling it away to shove back into it's rightful spot, where he would be laying his head down in a minute.

"Good night, sweetheart." He smirked, debating pulling the other man into a forced cuddle but deciding against it.

For once, he was just too damn tired.

Tossing his towels somewhere off to the side off of the bed, he buried his now slightly shivering self underneath the blankets, and rolled himself up so that he was facing away from the other man.

It was only moments before he was completely out.

If it fits...

Finn wasn't sure whether to feel insulted or complimented at Ripley's comment on his current apparel. It certainly wasn't very helpful, and with a small sigh through his nose and a slight shake of his head, he was turning around to look in the mirror located on the changing stall door, rolling his shoulders, tilting his head as he scrutinized the fit, turning to the side, stretching his arms up and back down, turning his waist just enough to check out his own a**....

Ripley's words had him glancing at the man via the reflection in the mirror, but than he was forced to turn to see what article of clothing the man was referring to.

It looked nice enough, certainly appearing like it could be useful should they ever end up on a mission somewhere cold, or should his early morning jogs be chillier than usual. He moved to where the shirts were hanging and began to rifle through them, looking for one in his size. Picking one out, he turned around.

"Why aren't you trying anything on? Never know when you'll get a chance to buy some new clothes again." He spotted the Armani jeans section. "Hold that thought." He smiled, moving past the other man to the newly acquired target.

And then, abruptly, he stopped, and pulled a jacket
off of one of the racks. "Here." He tossed it towards the other man, much to the chagrin of the sales clerks who had been eyeing them since they'd entered the store.

If it fits...

"See, now that's much better criticism than 'you look like a college professor'." He smirked, sneaking an inconspicuous pinch in on Ripley's a** when he was near enough to do so, if only because doing so was amusing. But he was enjoying this, enjoying the attention he was getting from Ripley, and the rare mood the other man was in, despite how tired he probably was.

He was trailing a finger along a rack of hanging jeans, deciding which to pull out, when Ripley grabbed his attention again.

Finn turned, stopped, and stared for a moment, taking in the view he was being given, his eye roaming up and down slowly. The shirt, as tight as it was, left little to the imagination to the type of body that was stored away beneath it, though perhaps Finn only thought that because he knew that body so intimately that he could see it in his own mind right at that very moment.

He smirked again, wider than before, and that should have said everything, before he even spoke.

"I think it's supposed to be tight. You look hot." If they were back in their hotel room, Finn would probably be quite happy to strip that jacket off of the other man, however, no matter how good it looked on him. "Try a size bigger if you think it's not quite right, though." He shrugged his shoulders, flicked his eye over the other man again, and than turned back to the jeans.