[PRP] Explanations, please (Jordan, Harrison, Rep)

[prolixity]

The Life hunter who had decided to test a bandage on him without asking first technically outranked him; Jordan couldn't yell as much as he wanted to. He did, however, get his clothes returned, and got a somewhat grudging apology. Getting dressed helped his mood. Remembering that Harrison had probably gotten the wrong idea about what was or wasn't going on with him and Rep soured it all over again in short order.

Jordan slipped back out of the lab tent, quietly resolving that he wasn't going anywhere near it for however much longer they were staying in this camp. Not a chance in hell.  

[Toshihiko Two]

Harrison stood outside while Jordan yelled at a tech and got his clothes back. Judging by all the penguins, the Lab tent was not the ideal place to be hanging around in.

And he wasn't in the mood for eating sardines naked.

"So," Harrison said once Jordan was out, "there something we need to talk about?" Besides the other stuff they needed to talk about.  

[prolixity]

"Er," Jordan said, and stuffed his hands in his pockets, giving Harrison a rather sheepish look. "Sort of? There hasn't been anything going on behind your back, if that's what you mean." He sighed. "Rep and I have been talking now and then. Occasionally in the middle of the night, because I've been getting woken up by nightmares." He ducked his head and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't - there aren't a lot of people I can just talk to. Rep's an a** - I've said so to his face - but he's a decent guy for all that, most of the time."

He fell silent for a moment, searching for the right wording, then continued, "Last time we talked about bad dreams, I wound up falling asleep sitting up, but even so, I actually got some sleep. So when neither of us were getting any sleep last night - " He half-smiled. "I figured I'd try having some company."  

[Toshihiko Two]

"Talking," Harrison repeated, and wondering whether he was gullible enough to buy it was just a lot of platonic late-night...holding each other.

"...You could of talked to me. Or waited on me."  

[prolixity]

"For the first part," Jordan said quietly, "I didn't want to bother you. I didn't know if - if you wanted me to. If there was anything involved besides - " He paused, twitched a small smile, " - well, considering, I guess using sleeping together as a euphemism doesn't really work here, does it. Besides sex. And I didn't expect that being friends with him would cause any kind of trouble between you and me, because you know as well as I do how adamantly he's been insisting he was straight. Given a choice between waking you up in the middle of the night when I didn't know how you'd react, when I really didn't want you to get annoyed at me, or going to someone from whom I had a general invitation to talk about s**t if I couldn't sleep?" A small, humorless laugh. "Seemed logical enough."

"As for waiting for you ... well, okay, I might have ******** that up." He looked down at his feet. "I was exhausted, and I went in there to sleep, and I closed my eyes and saw bugs."  

[Toshihiko Two]

"He didn't say anything to me about it," Harrison said. "You the were one that said the guy was- any way. Look, it doesn't matter if you guys were, because we never...talked about it any, I guess, I didn't want to pick a fight about it in the tent because I was still..." Harrison clamped down on a shudder, and powered through, "creeped the ******** out about it as anybody. Just caught me off-guard, is all. I didn't even know you guys..." he paused, here, then decided, "talked."  

[prolixity]

You were the one who kissed him. Jordan kept that to himself, because that really would turn this into a fight, and he didn't want that. Instead he said, "He's my friend. I - I don't want to have to choose sides." He tried a smile, dropped it when it felt too fake to keep up. "I sound like I'm full of s**t and making excuses. It even sounds like that to me. I - " He took a deep breath, tried to organize his thoughts and couldn't.

"All other things aside, man, you're my friend too," he said after a moment. "I wouldn't knowingly hurt you. And I wouldn't screw around on you, because that s**t's just wrong." He hunched his shoulders and met Harrison's eyes. He'd told the truth; it just remained to be seen whether Harrison believed it.  

[Toshihiko Two]

Choose sides? This wasn't about sides, it was about...hell, Harrison wasn't sure what it was about.

He was taking this personal because of all the physical s**t. And maybe it hadn't meant anything. He was okay with it not meaning anything if Jordan would just say it hadn't.

"It's not...wrong, we just didn't ******** talk about it. But okay. You would have kept me in the loop if anything was going on. So maybe you can clear this up for me. He was pretty pissed after we left for the Mission, and I figured it was about me because of the s**t at the party, but...was that about me or you?"  

[Baneful]

Rep had taken his time getting sorted out after the bizarre penguin escapades. His brain insisted on sluggishly clinging to the instincts and desires of the creature he'd been. This was pretty damn unsettling when it came to simple things like walking and not having flippers any more. He had gathered his things, he had a good yell at anyone who'd pay him passing attention in the tent before slinking off moodily as the threats to throw him out came into play. Still fuming and dazed he'd gone for a quick shower to clear his thoughts, the novelty of actually having usable showers still a glorious thing.

It helped a good bit, even his mood and he felt much happier and refreshed as he emerged from the shower tent, clean as he was going to get while here. He'd even brushed his teeth. A few times. Fish were ******** gross.

As he headed along the rows of tents however, he spotted two figures he recognised, not that far from the horrible lab tent. Even from here it looked like whatever they were discussing wasn't just some joking casual thing.

His good optimistic feeling vanished in a heartbeat, the lightness of contentment sinking along with his mood. Gone was the casual indifference, dread slithering in into its place. He slowed his walking pace as much as he could, utterly milking the walk from where he currently was to where they were. It was too late to go the other direction and avoid them completely, but he put reaching them off as much as possible. Deep down he felt like he didn't want to know what could make both of them look quite so serious. Nor did he want to walk in on anything he'd rather not hear.

 

[prolixity]

"I don't know," Jordan said, frustrated. "That was the first I'd heard it."  

[Toshihiko Two]

"I mean, you're saying you guys have been buddies all this time..." And he sure as hell didn't take a swipe at you.

Harrison was pretty sure what the answer was, he just wasn't sure why he was feeling so hurt about it.  

[Baneful]

Apparently though there was only so long you could put off a walk along a few rows of tents and Rep showed up alongside them, putting on an air of optimism he really wasn't feeling with the both of them looking quite as serious.

"Awrite?" he said, inclining his head in his usual little gesture of greeting. "Not like, interrupting anything am I? Cause I can ******** off. There's coffee in the rest tent."

 

[prolixity]

"Huh?" Now Jordan was confused, bordering on feeling a little hurt; he wasn't sure what Harrison was getting at, what he might be trying to imply. "Yeah ... ?"

He crossed his arms over his chest, feeling distinctly like he was having some other conversation that he didn't actually know he was having. "I'm not actually sure what we're talking about at the moment," he said, glancing at Rep as the subject of their conversation made himself apparent. "Maybe you can help explain."  

[Toshihiko Two]

"Alright," Harrison said, steeling his shoulders. "I'll ask." He turned to Rep. "That s**t with the centipedes. Was that because of him?" Harrison gestured to Jordan with his thumb.  

[Baneful]

Maybe you can help explain. Oh good god. He froze. He was expecting to be told to go away, not for the conversation to turn on him teeth bared. He had a feeling he would have to choose his words carefully yet had no idea what to say. And then as the question was clarified it was made so much worse.

He looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

A deer caught in the headlights in the middle of a ******** minefield.

And how did you even begin to put words around it? He'd been hurt completely when he saw them both. Terrified he'd lost two friends, terrified he'd lost any chance of anything more than that. God how selfish that would ******** sound. I wanted both of you. He didn't even think he could say it. Not like that anyway.

"Eh. It was..it was ..complicated?" he offered, looking far more uncomfortable than normal and wishing he could get away with just bolting out on the question. "It was him. But it was also like..." he frowned, his stomach doing backflips as he grasped around for words. He ******** hated words. "It was you too man. But like in different ways and. I don't even know." he shrugged apologetically, exasperated with himself, dredging up more questions than answers as he sought to give either of them the reply they wanted.