[PRP] Office Space (Harrison + Rep + Jordan + Robert)

[Toshihiko Two]

It hadn't been a hunt, not at first, just a lot of friendly half-smiles that hadn't been returned.

He wanted to be annoyed, but instead he just felt uneasy. He ultimately figured it had taken the embarrassment a while to hit, but it didn't mean he had to like the distance.

After Rep didn't show up in the barracks when his sleep shift rolled around, Harrison slept (badly) for about three hours, alone. The rows still gripped him with fear, and sometimes the shifting of sheets sounded like buzzing...

Harrison gave up, pulling on his boots and going to scour the hallways.
 

[Baneful]

Sometimes the barracks were like a cage.

It had all started simply with waking, he had all but lost track of time as he slid into the tight uneasy sort of panic. He'd felt good for a little while, but in the cold harsh light of day everything seemed too much to handle and he'd found himself losing it. After a shower he'd just wanted to hide from everyone. Paranoia and self loathing warred within him and the only thing he'd been able to do was the only thing he'd ever been able to do when faced with extremes of emotion - avoid everything. Denial worked a bit at first, he could pretend he hadn't lost control so massively. But even that was fleeting and desperate, he was aware that everyone he met, everyone he spoke to could have been there, could know.

It hadn't been anything like he thought, he'd thought he could control it.

The sleep shift had come and went. He hadn't felt like sleeping. It was how things had gone so wrong in the first place.

Rep looked as far from relaxed as it was possible to be as he paced a groove in the floor of the relaxation room. He should have been training, should have been up top fighting, should have been doing anything at all, but he'd been immobilised by his need to do something about these feelings. Down here avoiding people long term just wasn't viable.


 

[Toshihiko Two]

Most of the upper levels were cleared, now, and Rep could be anywhere...training fields, life labs, sparring, out on a mission- but he figured it couldn't hurt to check the underground first. The other bunks, no, even though it creeped Harrison out to check and looking through them was a rush job. Cafeteria, no, the spot Rep usually brooded at with about six cups of hot chocolate was empty.

Relaxation room-

Rep didn't look to relaxed. But he was here. Harrison leaned in the doorway, looking around to see if anyone else was trying to meditate.

"Hey," Harrison said, keeping his voice down. "I been looking all over for you. You busy?"  

[Baneful]

He froze mid stride as Harrison spoke and realised by doing so he couldn't even pretend that he hadn't heard him. His still raised foot relaxed to the floor as he turned to eye the other man with that blank distance he'd been hiding behind since he first started freaking the hell out. Under the surface though he was anything but blank. Just so much as looking relived everything he'd been trying to deny and forget.

He wanted to run. He didn't want to have to deal with this.

He wanted a lot of things.

"Sort of." he hazarded, looking around the room helplessly. No immediate excuse presented itself. He wilted. "No."

The wall a few meters to the left of Harrison was really interesting. "No I'm not busy."

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"I couldn't sleep either," Harrison offered. "B0nez and me were going to play some Tour of Duty."

There was a pause.

"Call, whatever the hell it's called, what's the difference? You and Tracey want in?"  

[Baneful]

God it was so ******** hard to stay upset at him. That made it worse, it was just more of a sign that he should stay away. Still, it didn't change the cringe of his inner gamer at the ridiculously endearing mangling of the game title. Nor did it fully managed to suppress the slight twinge of a smile.



He heaved a shallow sigh and shook his head. "Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Okay." He shrugged.

What harm could it do?

He wandered over to stand near but not too near Harrison, still holding that distance he'd been trying to. "Clarice's office right?"

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"Yep," Harrison said, pulling out the keys to give them a jangle as they headed towards the Labs.

"You played it before? It's one of those shooter games."  

[Baneful]

A shooter game.

He followed along behind Harrison trying very hard to suppress a toothy grin. He was like an old man when it came to games and it amused the s**t out of him so much. It eased the anxiety a little, just a little. Games couldn't go wrong, they were just games, and he missed them a lot. CoD was manly, it was fine.

"Just a hunch, but B0nez is suffering in your head right now. If so. I know man, I know." he said in a soothing voice.

"And yeah. I've played it. Lot of male bonding in that game."

 

[Toshihiko Two]

This is progress, B0nez said, he still can't tell FPS from DPS.

Harrison repeated him with an eyeroll.

"He uses so many initials you'd think he had to pay per letter. ...Male bonding, huh?" Harrison repeated with a grin, "must be an extra level I missed."
 

[Baneful]

Rep finally gave way to a smirk as Harrison repeated B0nez, giving the blonde man an even look. "We use initials to keep the uncool people in the dark." Almost immediately noticing that he'd included himself in that pronoun and trying to sidestep it neatly, giving Harrison a look.

"I doubt you need a game for that anyway." he added icily.

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"You jealous of Tour of Duty?" Harrison asked, grinning more. "....Call. Dammit I said Call this time."  

[Baneful]

"Not even a little bit." he snorted. Male bonding was one of the last things he wanted to think about right now, still jumpy, still trying not to think back. It made him flighty, way too flighty and it was showing through just a little in his body language, he wasn't as cocky or confident and kept swinging wildly between cold and distant and tense and anxious.

Still, he tried to keep up his relaxed act, drawling sarcastically. "Maybe after playing Tour of Duty we can play some Hola or some Super Crash Sisters."

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"I guess if they're on there. Are those ones driving games?" Harrison asked, unlocking the door. Killer perked up in his tank.

B0nez was cackling madly.

What? Are they?

"Whatever they are B0nez thinks it is ******** hilarious."  

[Baneful]

He cleared his throat in what was very possibly a strangled laugh, biting the tiny welt on his lip as he tried to keep himself from giving the game away. "Nah the driving games are like Gran Failisimo and ******** Harrison and always setting him more at ease than he needed to be.

"I would high five B0nez right now if I could." he admitted, dropping the vague distance to pat Harrison heavily on the back. "You are just too easy man."

He wandered lazily into the office and nabbed himself what he figured was the most comfortable seat.
 

[Toshihiko Two]

"Failisimo. And that's a driving game? Sounds a lot like fel- what the hell is so funny,"

Harrison sat irritably in the chair next to him and pulled off the cap of a skull and crossbones flashdrive.

"B0nez's desummoned form," he said shortly, before popping him into the USB hub with the hopes that he would shut up.

Heheeheheehesss yess, B0nez said, making a pleased electric staticky noise.